Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians
by Marcus S. Lazarus
Summary: After 'HBP', Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny are given four remarkable gems, giving them the powers of the Guardian Power Rangers. Aided by Jason, the first Red Ranger, they must find the horcruxes and control their new powers
1. A New Angle

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: For Harry and his friends, this is set _just _after the conclusion of 'Half Blood Prince', so don't read if you dislike spoilers. For 'Power Rangers', this is set shortly after the conclusion of 'Dino Thunder', so there are presently no ACTIVE Power Rangers teams (After all, S.P.D. is in the future, isn't it?)

AN 2: If anyone finds the confrontation between Harry and 'Dumbledore' in this chapter familiar, it's because I used it in my other Harry Potter crossover 'Harry Potter and the Mask of Loki', where Harry finds the Mask from the New Line Cinema movie starring Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz; I just made some changes to accommodate the new situation

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Harry sighed as he stared after Ron and Hermione, who had gone off to mingle with the other Weasleys at the funeral. He'd been meaning to go with them, of course, but when he'd seen Ginny standing there with the others, already looking as though nothing had happened, Harry had made his excuses and backed away.

He couldn't face her now. Not yet; not until he'd had some time to himself, time to think about what he should do next…

And, right now, as he turned back to look at the castle that had long been the first true home he'd ever known (The Burrow, of course, being the other one), he knew just where he'd need to go to find it.

And, luckily, there might just be someone there who could help him.

* * *

A few minutes later, he was standing in the middle of Dumbledore's old office, looking around the room as though searching for something.

Even as he was looking, however, Harry knew he wouldn't find what he was looking for. All he wanted was to find something that would show him that the last week or so had been nothing more than a nightmare… that Dumbledore hadn't died… that someone called simply 'R.A.B.' hadn't entered the equation, making an already hard task practically impossible… that he hadn't broken up with Ginny… that Snape, although a bastard, _wasn't _a traitor…

Harry clenched his fists and shook his head.

He knew he hated Snape with a passion that almost eclipsed his hatred of Voldemort, but he _wouldn't _allow himself to give in to his rage. If he got the chance, he'd hit Snape around so hard that the bastard wouldn't even have the chance to fire off a single spell at him…

But Harry Potter wouldn't kill Severus Snape. There was only one man he would kill. If he was fighting someone who _wasn't _that man, the man would get out of the fight alive; their adversary would just get bashed as much as humanly possible.

"Which isn't to say that the bastard wouldn't deserve it…" Harry muttered to himself, as he raised one hand up to his face and clenched it as though wishing he had Voldemort's throat in the hand.

"Which 'bastard' would this be, Harry?" a voice said from behind him.

Spinning around at the voice, Harry visibly relaxed as he saw that the speaker was merely Dumbledore's portrait, smiling merely at him.

"P… professor?" Harry said, unable to conceal his uncertainty; even after over six years in the magical world, he still wasn't entirely clear on whether the paintings just had the memories of the subjects or were actually _part _of the subjects.

He was more inclined towards the paintings containing a fragment of a soul, but not in the same sense as a horcrux. After all, so many primitive cultures had once believed that photographs stole a fragment of the soul; why shouldn't there be some truth to that legend?

"Yes, Harry, it's me," the portrait said, smiling at him. "Or at least, as close as you can get these days."

Then he sat back in the portrait and raised an enquiring eyebrow. "Now, have you anything you wish to say to me?"

Mark nodded, swallowed briefly, and then glared at Dumbledore with an extremely angry expression on his face.

"_You bloody IDIOT_!" he yelled at the portrait, looking ready to hex something as he faced all that was left of his old mentor. "_I told you AGAIN and AGAIN that you couldn't trust that BASTARD! EVERYONE else could see it, except for YOU! He sold out my PARENTS! He provoked Sirius into that fight that got him KILLED! And LOOK WHAT HE DID TO YOU! You're DEAD! You're DEAD AND I… I…_"

He stopped, staring at Dumbledore as he sat serenely in the portrait, looking back at Harry with a small smile on his face.

"You… what, Harry?" he asked, his voice in the same soothing tone that Harry recognised from after his tantrum following Sirius's death a year ago.

Harry paused for a few moments. Then he slumped down onto the stone floor of the office, clasped his head in his hands, and began to cry.

"And I… I don't know what to do…" he said, between his sobs.

As he said it, Harry knew that it was true. He wasn't angry at Dumbledore for trusting Snape, although that was part of it; honestly, _everyone _else could see that the guy couldn't be trusted, and Dumbledore had just gone on and on about how Snape was dependable…

He was angry at Dumbledore for leaving him to deal with this alone. He was angry at Dumbledore for leaving him to battle Voldemort, he was angry at Dumbledore for leaving him to destroy the horcruxes, he was…

Harry groaned. He hated having to even _think _this next bit, but he still thought it.

He was even angry at Dumbledore for not being available to advise him on what he should have done regarding his relationship with Ginny. True, it would have felt awkward discussing that kind of thing with the headmaster, but it wouldn't have been _that _kind of advice; more asking him whether or not he should continue to see Ginny, or if leaving her to protect her was the best strategy…

"Harry," Dumbledore said, looking at his young protégé as Harry sat on the steps, alternating between sobbing slightly and nearly fuming with rage, "I am sorry to put a greater burden on you, but we have other business that must be attended to before anything else happens."

"What?" Harry asked, looking at Dumbledore in confusion. "What else is there? I find the horcruxes, destroy them figure out who R.A.B. is, and then take out Voldemort. That's everything I've got to do now, right?"

"Recent events have meant that there is a lot more that needs done, actually," Dumbledore said. "However, you are not the only one who this concerns. Could you fetch Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, and Miss Weasley?"

Harry looked at Dumbledore in confusion. He was already starting to wonder whether Dumbledore's mind had been affected due to have being reduced to a magical portrait; after all, in the past, no matter how large-scale the problem had been, he'd always preferred to talk to Harry alone…

But, on the other hand, dying had been the only thing he'd done that had been a mistake. All his theories about the horcruxes… the link between Harry and Voldemort via the scar… the reason _why _Harry was the only one who could stop Voldemort… all of that had worked out so far.

Why should his reasoning behind this latest 'idea' be any different?

_And besides, what do I have to lose?_ Harry asked himself.

"OK," he said, nodding at the portrait. "I'll be back in a bit."

He turned around and walked out of the office.

* * *

As soon as Harry had left the office, a tall, dark-skinned woman with long brown hair in ringlets, dressed in a long white cloak with a white veil pulled up to under her eyes, appeared in the middle of the room in a beam of white light.

"Ah, Dimitria," Dumbledore's portrait said, smiling and nodding at the woman as she turned to look at him. "You just missed Harry; he's gone to fetch the other members of this little group of ours."

"I see," Dimitria said, nodding at the wizard before turning to look around the office. "Where are the gems?"

"In the top left drawer," Dumbledore said, indicating his desk. "However, I would prefer it if you left them where they are; I feel it might be better if I explained more about the background to the gems before I gave them to these four."

He then sighed regretfully and looked at Dimitira. "By the way, as long as we are on the topic of attempting to avoid too many immediately awkward questions, I would appreciate it if maybe you could, shall we say, 'wait outside' until they have been filled in on the situation at present."

"Of course," Dimitria said, nodding at her new friend before stepping back, closing her eyes, and vanishing in another blare of white light, as Dumbledore settled back down in his seat to wait.

* * *

AN 3: Just in case you didn't know, Dimitria served as the mentor to the Power Rangers in _Power Rangers: Turbo_ until she was called away to help out with an invasion of the distant planet Eltar 


	2. The Legacy of Gryffindor and Zordon

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"Um… hello?" Harry said, as he stepped back into the office, followed by Ron, Hermione and Ginny. He hadn't been able to give them much of an explanation as to _why _he'd wanted them up there; he'd just said that there was something the portrait wanted to tell them all, and that had been it.

Quite frankly, he was just grateful nobody had laughed in his face, and that he'd been able to get the three of them away from the main 'party' before anyone wanted answers.

"Ah, good, you're here already," Dumbledore's portrait said, nodding at the four of them in approval.

"Well, what else were we to do?" Ginny asked, shrugging slightly as she looked up at the portrait inquiringly. "Wait around outside, or come in here to find out something that could help us sort this mess out quicker?"

"True, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said, nodding in agreement at her point. "I would have preferred that what I am about to tell you about would never have been necessary, but unfortunately, recent activities of Voldemort's have rendered it necessary for this to be used."

"For what to be used?" Ron asked, looking at the portrait in confusion.

"Well, to properly explain what they are, I have to go back to over a thousand years ago, when Hogwarts was first founded," Dumbledore explained, as he indicated a few chairs around the office. "You should sit down; this will take a while."

"Um… OK," Hermione said, as the four of them pulled some of the chairs out and sat them around the room, in a position where all four of them could comfortably see the portrait.

"As I said, what I am about to share with you began over a thousand years ago, shortly after Hogwarts was founded and Slytherin left the school," Dumbledore explained. "After Slytherin's departure, Godric Gryffindor began to cast elaborate detection spells to try and find where Slytherin had hidden himself, to make sure that his old rival could not pose a threat to Hogwarts in the future."

"It didn't exactly work, I take it?" Ron asked.

"No, it didn't," Dumbledore said, shaking his head. "No matter how hard Gryffindor tried, he was unable to penetrate the protective spells that Slytherin had cast around himself; even today, some magical historians believe that Slytherin may have developed the Fidelus Charm at this time. However, he _was_ able to find another powerful source of magical energy in the area that we now know as America, and went over there to investigate, leaving the school in the care of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff until he got back."

"Wait a minute; _America_?" Hermione said, looking at Dumbledore in confusion. "But America wasn't even discovered until the late fifteenth century; how could Gryffindor have known about it a thousand years ago?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Please, Miss Granger, do you honestly believe that any wizard in those days would have _wanted _to attract attention to himself and his acquaintances?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Hermione, the typical quizzical gleam in his eye. "In that day and age, you should remember, magic was still regarded by the general muggle populace as a tool of the devil; no wizard would have wanted to draw attention to himself for any reason."

He sat back and shrugged casually. "Besides, Gryffindor was uncertain at the time whether the world as a whole was ready for knowledge of America to be made available to the public. He told Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff upon his return, naturally, and left details in his diaries to ensure that all his successors would know about the existence of this security measure, but otherwise he kept his discovery private."

"But what _was _that security measure?" Ginny asked, looking at Dumbledore impatiently. "And what was the source of the magic he detected?"

Dumbledore smiled. "The source of the magic that Gryffindor had detected," he explained, "was quickly revealed to be an ancient and powerful wizard known as Zordon, who cam for the distant planet of Eltar and had been sealed in some sort of 'pocket dimension' linked to our own by a dark witch called Rita before he had trapped her away for good."

The four students could only stare around at each other in bemusement for a time, until Harry looked back at Dumbledore.

"Um… did you say Zordon came from another _planet_?" he asked sceptically. "As in, he didn't come from Earth at all?"

"Correct," Dumbledore said, smiling at Harry.

"But… but…" Hermione stuttered, before Ginny spoke up.

"How could someone powerful enough to be detected from America all the way over _here_ have stayed secret all the way to the present?" she asked. "I mean, wouldn't someone have found out about him by now?"

"Not really," Dumbledore smiled. "After Gryffindor found Zordon, the two of them worked together to improve the security around Zordon's home; nobody could find him unless Zordon himself wanted them to find him."

Then he smiled. "However, he has not exactly stayed quiet; Harry and Hermione in particular may have heard of his activities in America a few years ago."

"What?" Harry said, growing ever more confused. "But surely anything about a wizard would be in the _Prophet_? Wouldn't Ron and Ginny be more likely to know what Zordon's been up to?"

"Not when his activities were more often recorded in the muggle news," Dumbledore smiled. "Tell me, did you ever hear of a group of individuals from the American city of Angel Grove, who called themselves 'the Power Rangers'?"

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I saw some stuff about them a fe- wait a minute," he said, stopping suddenly and looking up at Zordon inquiringly. "Are you saying that Zordon was the guy who created the Power Rangers?"

"The first few teams, at any rate," Dumbledore replied. "Tragically, he sacrificed his life a few years ago to avert a mass invasion of evil; you may recall the story."

"Oh, you mean that 'Countdown to Destruction' thing?" Hermione asked, looking at Dumbledore eagerly. "I always wondered what had stopped it…"

"Um, hello?" Ginny asked, raising a hand. "Could Ron and I have an explanation, please?"

"Oh, right, sorry," Hermione said, as she looked over at the youngest Weasleys. "Basically, the Power Rangers are a group of American heroes who fight monsters created by some main adversary- I think their original foe was called 'Rita Repulsa'…"

She stopped and glanced over at Dumbledore. "Would that be the same Rita that-"

"Trapped Zordon in his time warp?" Dumbledore asked. "Oh yes, it was."

"Oh," Hermione said, before turning back to her friends. "Anyway, there were always five Rangers at a time, each team member wearing a distinctive colour of some kind. Team colours and costumes colours always include red, yellow, and blue, being joined by some combination of pink, green, black, or white, although there's often a sixth member of the group who has extra powers and doesn't follow the normal colour rules; there's been the Gold Ranger, the Phantom Ranger, the Quantum Ranger, the Titanium Ranger, and the Silver Ranger that I can recall. All the teams have commanded massive fighting machines called 'Zords', which normally resemble animals of some kind in their original form, but can combine to form a larger, human-sized machine to battle any monsters that the foe may have sent."

"Ah," Ginny said, before looking over at Dumbledore again. "So… what do the Power Rangers have to do with a meeting that took place a thousand years ago?"

"Simple, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore smiled, as he stood up in the painting and walked slightly closer to the frame. "During their time together, Gryffindor and Zordon foresaw a time when their two worlds may face an identical threat, most likely a Dark Wizard commanding the power of one of Zordon's foes. To this end, they created a secret weapon, although they preferred to think of it as a defence measure, that would be used at such a time to protect the world."

He swallowed and looked around the room. "And, I regret to say, such a time has come. Shortly before my death, I received reports that Voldemort had been seen wielding a weapon that matches the description of the staff that was used by Rita Repulsa to create the monsters with which she battled the first Power Rangers. How he acquired it, I cannot say, but it is clear that the time for the defensive measure to be activated."

"This measure being?" Harry asked.

"I would rather show you than tell you," Dumbledore explained. "Mr Weasley, if you would please go to my desk and open the top left-hand drawer, I would be grateful if you would remove the box that the drawer contains."

"Uh… OK," Ron said, as he got up, walked over to the desk, and opened the drawer in question. As the others looked over, Ron took out a large ebony box with the Hogwarts crest on it and laid it on the desk, before reaching out and opening it.

"Woah…" Ron muttered, as he looked at the contents before looking up at the others. "Check these things out!"

Getting up, Harry, Ron and Ginny walked over to stand behind Ron, and looked at the box. In it were for largish glowing stones, each one a different colour; one was red, another was green, a third was blue, and the last was yellow.

"Uh… sir?" Harry asked, looking at Dumbledore in confusion. "What are these things?"

"The four gems you see before you were developed by Godric Gryffindor and Zordon before they were brought to Hogwarts for safe keeping," a voice said from behind them.

"Wh-" Harry said, the four of them pulling out their wands and turning around to face in the direction of the voice…

Only to see a tall woman, dressed all in white with a white veil covering the lower half of her dark-skinned face, standing there and looking at them with what might have been a smile; the veil made it hard to tell.

Ron's eyes widened slightly at the sight before him, and his ears turned red. Glancing over at each other, Harry and Ginny couldn't contain a slight sigh and eye-rolling; evidently, Ron had fallen in lust again.

"You are?" Hermione asked, ignoring Ron's goggle-eyed behaviour beside her.

"I am Dimitria, of the planet Inquisitra," Dimitria replied, as she looked around at the four students. "I served for a time as mentor and advisor to the team of Power Rangers known as the Power Rangers Turbo; you may know of them, Miss Granger?"

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, they were the ones who used cars, right?"

Ron shook his head as though to clear it (Most likely of thoughts that he really _shouldn't _have been having) and then looked at Hermione in confusion.

"I thought you said that the 'zords' looked like animals?" he asked.

"Ron…" Hermione said, as she glared at him, "if you'd paid attention, you would have noticed that I said that the zords were _normally_ based on animals; there _were_ a few exceptions."

"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" Ginny asked, looking at the two of them critically before looking back at Dimitria. "So, if you don't mind my asking, why are you here now?"

"Why else?" Dimitria asked, as she indicated the gems beside her. "I am here to aid you; the newest generation of Power Rangers."

The reactions were almost comical. Harry's eyes widened in horror, staring around at his friends as though he was hoping someone would tell him he'd heard Dimitria wrongly. Hermione, for once in her life, was speechless, unable to come up with any kind of reply to what she'd just been told. Ginny looked as though she'd just simultaneously been given her greatest gift and her worst nightmare in the same package and was currently trying to figure out which one it was. Ron, on the other hand, just grinned widely, although the expression rapidly faded when he looked around at the others.

"Um… guys?" he asked, looking at them curiously. "What's wrong?"

Harry eventually broke the silence, stepping back slightly to look at both Dimitria and Dumbledore.

"You… you want _us _to become _Power Rangers_?" he asked, looking at Dumbledore incredulously. "But… but…"

"But you wanted to do this alone?" Dumbledore asked, smiling slightly. "Harry, you should have learned by now; the greatest heroes know when to be alone, and when to be brave enough to call for help. You may be the only one who can defeat Voldemort, but that does not mean that you must do it _all _alone. Your friends are all competent, powerful witches and wizards in their own right, and you would be foolish to neglect any help you may need."

He raised an eyebrow. "Or have you forgotten what I told you about why Tom Riddle would favour horcruxes over a Philosopher's Stone?"

Harry shook his head.

No, he hadn't forgotten Dumbledore's assessment of Voldemort's character regarding that detail. The only reason Voldemort had developed horcruxes was because he hated the idea of being dependent on anyone- or any_thing_- else that he had not developed himself, even if it was a matter of life or death.

Was he just making the same mistake?

Relying on himself when he knew that it would be more sensible to have others? True, his _motives _weren't the same as Voldemort's, but still…

He sighed, and looked over at the other three.

"Are you three all right with this?" he asked.

Ron grinned. "Are you kidding me?" he asked. "Harry, I'll take any opportunity to kick Death Eater arse I can get! Count me in!"

"Well, there's no way I'm letting you two do this and leave me behind after all this," Hermione said, as she stepped forward. "I'm in as well."

The three of them turned to look at Ginny, who was just looking at the gems nervously.

"Ginny?" Harry said, holding out a hand to her. She looked at it for a moment, and then looked up at Harry inquiringly.

"Please," Harry said, swallowing as he spoke. "We need you."

Ginny hesitated, then reached out and took his hand.

Harry turned to look at Dimitria.

"We accept," he said simply.


	3. It's Morphin' Time!

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"So, what do we do now?" Ron asked, looking at the box containing the gems. "Just pick one up and go for it?"

"No, you do not," Dimitria said, placing a hand on the box as she spoke. "Each one of these gems is empowered by magic relating to one of the four houses of Hogwarts, and thus is 'tuned' to a certain specific person with a distinctive trait of each house. Like your wands, the gem shall choose the wizard; not the other way around."

"Ah," Hermione said, nodding thoughtfully. Then she stopped and looked at Dumbledore and Dimitira in confusion. "Um… you said the power of these gems comes from the school houses?"

"Yes?" Dimitria answered.

"Well… we're all in Gryffindor," Hermione said, looking over at Dumbledore. "Surely these gems will only work for someone in a certain house?"

"Not the way Gryffindor and Zordon designed them," Dumbledore explained. "The gems are so powerful that only someone of great courage could use them effectively in combat. It was decided that only Gryffindors would wield the gems, but each Gryffindor would, albeit to a lesser extent than a native of the house would, possess a certain personality trait that is often associated with one of the other houses. I believe I have chosen correctly with you four, but I would be interested in seeing whether my theories as to which of you possesses what gem are correct."

"I see…" Harry said, nodding thoughtfully. "So, how do we get our gems?"

"Simply point your wands at the box holding the gems and use the Summoning Charm," Dumbledore explained. "Your gems will come to you, and you shall be transformed into your Ranger costumes."

"Right then," Ginny said, as she pulled out her wand and pointed it in front of her, "let's do it."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded as they pulled out their wands and pointed them at the box.

"_Accio_!" they all called out, and instantly, one of the four gems flew towards each of the four young wizards, landing on their left wrists. As they looked down at the newly-materialised gem in surprise, gold 'bracelets' materialised around the gems, encircling their wrists as they watched, before their entire bodies were suddenly bathed in white light.

When the light faded, the four of them were dressed in the brightly-coloured costumes that the world as a whole normally identified with the Power Rangers. The uniforms, like the usual Power Ranger costume, resembled skintight spandex, each in their distinctive colours. There were thick gold 'bracelets' around their wrists that stretched halfway up to their elbows, while their boots had a gold band just below the knee, although the boots themselves were the same colour as the main uniform. Their wands were strapped to a holster on their right legs, and a short sword hung on their left sides.

The uniforms had a triangular white patch over the shoulders, with a variation of the Hogwarts crest below the throat; three of the houses now formed the traditional shield, while the symbol of whichever house was linked to this Ranger was in the centre of the shield. The helmets were all in the hands of their owners, each one slightly resembling the animal that was the symbol of the house.

Dimitria smiled as she stepped up to Ron, who was dressed in yellow and clutching a helmet that, with its slight fins that could be ears and the darker yellow stripes around the visor, resembled a badger. "Ronald Weasley, loyal to your friends and to what you know to be right; you are the Hufflepuff Badger."

Then she moved on to Hermione, who was dressed in blue and holding a helmet that protruded slightly at the front, in the manner of an eagle's beak. "Hermione Granger, an intelligent and inquiring mind that will surely take you far in whatever field you choose; you are the Ravenclaw Eagle."

As Dimitria turned to look at Ginny, she noticed to her surprise that the red-haired young woman was staring at her helmet with a growing mixture of horror and fear. "What is it, Ginny?"

"Green?" Ginny asked, looking up at Dimitria in confusion. "I'm a _Slytherin_? Does the gem honestly think that I'm _evil_?"

"No," Dimitria replied, looking at Ginny harshly. "Believe me, Zordon and Gryffindor did not design the Slytherin Gem to focus on the person with the darkest nature. On the contrary, it focuses on the person who is most _determined_ in the team."

She smiled briefly at Ginny, her eyes flickering over in Harry's direction before she looked back at Ginny. "And from what I have learned of your history, you are certainly determined; you waited for five years for a certain individual to come to his senses."

Then Dimitria walked over to Harry, who was dressed in red and holding a helmet with what almost looked like the faint traces of a mane around it. "Harry Potter, prepared to risk death for those you know, enduring rejection and scorn to ensure that the truth is known; you are the Gryffindor Lion."

She stepped back and looked at the four young wizards and witches in front of her as they stared at their helmets and their gems. "Your powers are great, but you must never forget that they are not the beginning and end of your abilities. You possess power even without the Gems; the gems must only be used when you are sure that you have no alternative if you wish to win the fight. Also, you must keep your new powers secret; nobody, save for fellow Rangers, must know who you are under the masks."

Dimitria seemed about to say more, but she was suddenly interrupted by a loud series of screams from outside.

"What the…" Harry said, as he ran over to the window, followed by the others.

As they looked out the window, the four of them could only watch in horror as several bird-like figures flew down onto the witches and wizards at the funeral, attacking people seemingly at random.

"What the hell are those things!" Ron asked, looking back at Dimitria in confusion.

"Tenga warriors," Dimitria replied. "There were some of the more dangerous foot soldiers used by Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd against the Power Rangers; they are not especially powerful monsters individually, but in a group they were more than a match for the Ninja Power Rangers. In previous cases, foot soldiers could be defeated while the Rangers were still merely in their civilian identities."

She looked at the four new Rangers. "This would appear to be your first test."

"Right," Harry said, as he picked up his helmet, undid the clasps on the side, and placed it onto his head. Ron and Ginny did the same, but Hermione hesitated briefly and looked at Dimitria.

"Yes?" Dimitria asked, looking inquiringly at the new Blue Ranger.

"Well… if V-Voldemort has Rita's wand, won't he be able to make monsters grow like she used to?" Hermione asked. "So… what do we do if that happens?"

"Oh, that is not a matter for concern, Miss Granger," Dumbledore smiled over at her, as the other three Rangers looked over at the painting. "The Gems come with the ability to summon your own Zords, each one based on the animal that represents your respective house. To call them to you, you must all simply place your wands on your gems, call out 'Guardian Zord Power, _attivare_!' and the Zords will come to you instantly."

"Really?" Ginny said, looking at the gem with a smile on her face. "Not bad."

"Well, now that we've got that out of the way, shall we get going?" Harry asked, indicated the window before glancing over at Dumbledore. "Is there a faster way down other than just running?"

"Oh yes," Dumbledore said, nodding briefly. "You Apparate; the gems give you the power to do that perfectly regardless of how much training you've had, as well as allowing you to Apparate within Hogwarts."

Then he smiled at another thought that occurred to him. "Did I mention that the gems also allow you to use magic outside of school without being detected?"

He couldn't help but keep grinning at the eager looks that the Rangers must have been exchanging under their helmets; they were certainly looking around at each other eagerly enough at the possibility.

"Really?" Ron asked, looking at the portrait eagerly. "We could do any spell we wanted?"

"Naturally, Mr Weasley," Dumbledore said, nodding at him. Then the smile faded as he looked at them with a serious expression. "Of course, you should be aware that I am trusting you not to abuse your powers; if I learn that you have abusing that power and casting spells for no good reason, I shall have to take the gems away."

"Of course," Hermione said, nodding eagerly. "We wouldn't do that kind of thing."

"I know, Miss Granger," Dumbledore assured her. "Now, you had better be off; those tengas are unlikely to wait for you to show up before the attack continues, and I am uncertain whether wizards along can last against so many."

"Right," Harry said, as he looked around at the others. "Let's go."

There was a brief _Pop!_ as the new Rangers vanished…

* * *

And then, just as suddenly, they were standing back in the grounds, looking at the tall, black, bird-like figures that were attacking the wizards attending the funeral. The birds may have looked like they were moulting as they stood there, but they were certainly fast; they'd already knocked down some of the DA members who must have taken the front line in the attack, and McGonagall and Flitwick were currently having some trouble getting off spells to immobilise the birds.

"Let's go!" Harry yelled, as he and the others drew their swords and dived into the battle, lashing out desperately at the tengas.

"What the…" Harry heard a voice say from behind him. He vaguely recognised it as being Charlie, but he couldn't be sure; of all the Weasley brothers, Charlie was the one he'd spent the least amount of time with.

Spinning around, Harry stared at the slightly burned young man, and was glad to see that his early assessment had been accurate; it _was _Charlie.

"Get back, will you?" he yelled, trying to make his voice sound harsher so that Charlie wouldn't recognise it. "We've got the situation under control!"

"But…" Charlie said, staring at Harry in confusion.

"DUCK!" Harry yelled, as he spotted a tenga coming up behind Charlie. The dragon-tamer dived to the ground as Harry swung his sword, decapitating the bird-warrior in one move before he glanced back at Charlie. "Which part of 'move' do you not understand? Get going!"

* * *

_Woah… _Ron thought to himself, as he ducked and weaved through the mass of bird-like warriors, his sword slicing through them as though they were butter as he instinctively stopped himself striking any wizards who might be nearby. It was starting to look like the Gem's enhanced strength came with an instinctive knowledge of how to hold your own in a fight; he'd never so much as _touched _a sword, and here he was wielding one as though he'd been born with it in his hand.

"Who're _you_?" a voice suddenly said from behind him.

Ron glanced over in the direction of the voice and had to stop himself from yelling in recognition when he saw Hagrid standing there, covered in various minor scratches; evidently he'd been holding his own against the tengas even before they showed up.

"Long story… pal," he said, briefly stuck for inspiration; after all, it couldn't exactly help them keep their identities secret if the Yellow Guardian went around recognising the gamekeeper. "Just get everyone out of here; my friends and I can manage!"

"Oh, really?" a voice suddenly shouted out from behind Ron. "And what makes you so sure of that, my good Yellow Guardian Ranger?"

Spinning around, Ron swallowed nervously as he saw who was standing before him.

Voldemort.

* * *

"Oh no…" Hermione whispered to herself, as she, Harry and Ginny noticed Ron's plight. Everyone who'd been fighting so far- even the tengas- stopped as they looked in the direction of the speaker, although Hermione was more than partly convinced that it was Voldemort's new outfit that was attracting the attention.

He still wore his traditional black robes, but now they had an edging of bronze trim around the end of the sleeves and at the bottom where they nearly touched the ground. He also had bronze-coloured 'shoulder-pads', and his original wand now hung at his side in a black leather holster.

In his hands he was holding a large staff, about the same size as him, with a large circle at the top of it. One side of the circle seemed to be based on the traditional crescent moon image, and a red sphere about the size of a cricket ball was lodged there.

Harry, however, was evidently refusing to allow himself to be flustered; he stepped forward and seemed to be glaring at Voldemort, although the helmet made it hard to tell.

"Is there any particular reason you're doing this?" he asked his nemesis as the other Guardian Rangers gathered around him. "I mean, other than your usual need to destroy anything that might be a danger when you're sure you can win because you're too much of a coward to try it otherwise?"

"And just who do you think you are to guess what motivates my actions?" Voldemort retaliated as he looked back at the new Red Ranger.

Harry shrugged dismissively as he raised his sword in one hand and took up a defensive stance. Constantly facing Voldemort, he raised his other hand and, with all four fingers, made a 'come here' gesture.

"We're the Power Rangers, Tommy ol' boy," he said, chuckling slightly at the anger that suddenly flashed across Voldemort's face at the use of his given name. "And if you're so tough, ready to take me on?"

Voldemort growled as he shifted into a combat stance as well, as though preparing to attack Harry himself…

Then he stopped himself and smiled thoughtfully.

"No," he said, as he looked over at a nearby tenga. "I have a better idea."

Raising the staff, he pointed it at the tenga and bellowed out "_Engorgio_!"

A bolt of lighting leapt from the wand, striking the tenga head-on, and, before anyone could do anything, the creature was suddenly at least twelve stories tall and seemed to have traded its feathers for metal replacements.

"You can try your luck with _that_," Voldemort said, chuckling as he indicated the giant. "I would remain under normal circumstances, but I feel that this tenga will be more than adequate to destroy you; there's no point giving you more credit than you deserve."

He chuckled. "Honestly, I don't know why Snape was so concerned about the so-called 'Hogwarts Guardians'; this should be easy…"

* * *

_Snape KNEW about the Gems?_ Ginny thought, staring at the stone on her wrist in horror. _But… but how_…?

Then Voldemort and the other tengas vanished, and Ginny shook her head as she looked over at the others; right now, they had other fish- or rather, birds- to fry.

"So, shall we?" she asked, pulling out her wand and tapping her gem.

Harry nodded. "Yeah," he said, glancing back at the other witches and wizards as he, Ron and Hermione grabbed their wands. "You should all get away as fast as you can; it won't be safe for anyone in a moment!"

A few of the pupils seemed about to protest, but their parents grabbed their children by the arms and apparated out. Ginny was briefly surprised at that, but then realised that the wards preventing apparation around Hogwarts simply mustn't have extended this far.

Quickly glancing around the funeral, Ginny was relieved to see that, baring the tomb itself (Now sealed with Dumbledore's body inside), they and the tenga warrior were the only things in the immediate vicinity.

"Let's do it," Harry said as he glanced around at the others. Nodding the four of them held out their arms, pointing into the centre of a square of which each of them was a corner, pointed their wands at the gems, and uttered the command that would even up the battle once again.

"Guardian Zord Power, _attivare_!"


	4. Megazord Power and the Next Step

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As soon as the words were out of their mouths, two loud roars, a screech and a hiss were heard from the direction of the castle. Spinning around, the four new Rangers watched in awe and surprise as their four Zords leapt from their respective hiding locations on the castle, each one clearly displaying the power and majesty that had made them the symbol of the four greatest wizards and witches of the age.

The Ravenclaw Eagle, its brilliant blue standing out again the clouded sky, leapt into the air from a tall tower, emitting a piercing screech as it spun around to fly towards the tenga.

The Hufflepuff Badger's distinctive yellow form, with lighter patches of yellow around its face, pounded out from Hagrid's hut and the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, unceasing despite its slower pace compared to the other zords.

The Slytherin Serpent burst from the ground, as though it had been hidden in the Chamber of Secrets itself, and hissed at the tenga, its dark green form somehow all the more threatening for how well it blended in with the grass around it.

The brilliant red form of the Gryffindor Lion, roaring from the battlements as though in a declaration of war, dived from the roof of the Great Hall towards the ground, joining the others as they faced the wrath of the giant tenga warrior.

"All right, everyone," Harry said, as the four Rangers instinctively bent their knees, "let's show this guy we were given this job!"

Nodding, all four Rangers launched themselves into the air towards their respective Zord, and, in a few moments, each one found themselves sitting in an elaborate cockpit, located directly between the eyes of each Zord.

Glancing around the control room, Harry was pleased to find that the controls seemed simple enough; several buttons to fire weapons and combine Zords, and two large levers to steer the Zords when each one was working individually.

Reaching over, Harry tapped the buttons to activate the communication systems, and smiled as Ginny, Ron and Hermione's voices came over the speakers.

"This is Harry," he said, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand. "All systems activated!"

"Ginny speaking; Serpent locked and ready to go!"

"Ron here… whoa, nice setup!"

"Hermione, ready for action!"

"Right then," Harry said, as he glanced down at the controls. "Let's show this guy what we're made of. Everyone, initiate Megazord sequence!"

"Uh… Mega-what?" Ron's voice broke in, sounding suddenly confused.

Hermione sighed over the speaker system. "_Ron_, pay attention for ONCE, will you?" she asked. "The Megazord is the name of the human-shaped machine formed by combining all the Rangers' individual zords into one! Honestly, it's _obvious_ when you _think_ about it!"

"Oh, right!" Ron said, chuckling sheepishly. Harry allowed himself a brief laugh as he turned back to his console and pressed some illuminated buttons; why he pressed those, he couldn't say, but he was beginning to guess that the Gem was telling him what to do.

In any case, the 'hunch' seemed to be correct; instantly, an image appeared in front of him of the four zords as they were currently, before the four of them leapt up into the air. The Lion positioned itself in the centre of the resulting formation as the Serpent and the Eagle linked onto its right and left respectively, and the Badger connected itself to the underside of the Lion. On the image before Harry's eyes, the Badger's hindquarters extended out behind it, and then turned a complete 180 degrees before lowering themselves down to the ground to form legs. Simultaneously, the Serpent and the Eagle opened their mouth/beak and two hands emerged from the zords, as excess metal from the Badger flew up to form shoulder pads to keep the two zords more firmly attached. Then, as the final stage, a head popped up from a hatch in the Lion's body, and the Lion's tail curled around it to form a visor.

"_Guardian Megazord, activated_," a mechanical-sounding voice suddenly said over the speakers.

As soon as the voice had finished giving its brief announcement, Harry felt his seat pull back and move upwards until he was sitting in a larger control room with the others. The Hogwarts crest was located at the back of the room, and Ron sat just in front of it, Harry sitting in front of Ron with Ginny on his right and Hermione on the left.

"Wicked!" Ron smiled as he looked around at the Zord control room.

"Ron? Could you focus, if you don't mind?" Harry asked, indicating the tenga that was already turning to look at them. "We've got a massive human-like bird to stop right now; we can admire the new equipment later."

"Oh, right… sorry," Ron said sheepishly, as Harry turned the Guardian Megazord towards the tenga and charged, lashing out with a powerful punch that sent the tenga staggering backwards. However, the bird didn't seem badly injured by the strike; it just got back up and glared at the Megazord.

"Good shot, but you're not getting another one!" it roared, before it leapt up into the sky and dived towards the Megazord, sending the large machine staggering back.

"Ha HA!" the tenga cawed, as he turned around to look mockingly at the Megazord. "Ready to give in yet?"

"Not a chance!" Hermione replied as she turned to a control panel near her.

"Ravenclaw Boomerang, _Attivare_!" she said, as she leaned forward and quickly tapped two buttons in front of her, once again apparently on instinct. As the Rangers studied the diagram before them in awe, the Eagle zord's right wing separated from the main Eagle, took on a boomerang shape, and was then hurled in the direction of the tenga.

The bird screamed as the blue boomerang slashed a sizeable chunk of flesh out of its shoulder, and then collapsed to the ground in front of the Guardian Megazord.

Inside the control room, Harry smiled beneath his helmet and turned around to give Hermione a brief thumbs-up before turning back to look at the tenga.

"Time to end this," he said, as he reached over and tapped some switches that seemed to him to be right. "Guardian Sabre, _attivare_!"

As the Guardians stared in amazement at the screen before them, the Eagle's other wing separated from the blue zord, joining the other one as the two straightened out to form a long, electric-blue sword, three feathers on a lower wing spreading out to form the hilt of the powerful-looking weapon.

Clutching the sword in its green right arm, the Guardian Megazord drew the powerful weapon back, and then, before the tenga could retreat, it had slashed down with the blade, sending out sparks of brilliant blue lightning as it struck the bird-like monster. The tenga let out a terrified caw that reminded the four young wizards of a dying raven, before it collapsed to the ground and exploded. Only a faint singe on the grass told that it had even been there in the first place.

"Whoa…" Ron muttered to himself, as the Guardian Megazord just stood looking ahead of itself, the sword glowing in its right hand. No words passed between the four Guardians other than Ron's comment, but no words were necessary.

They had done it.

They had assumed the mantle of the Power Rangers for a new generation, and they had kicked ass in their first fight.

Harry chuckled.

_Be afraid, Tom Riddle…_ he silently vowed.

_Be _very _afraid._

* * *

A few moments later, the four students were standing back in Dumbledore's office, their zords now returned to their hiding places in the castle and their costumes back to normal. Ron and Ginny had sent Hedwig to the Weasleys with a note to assure them that they were all fine, but otherwise they'd come straight back here once the fight with the tenga was over.

"Congratulations, Rangers," Dimitria said, nodding in approval at the four teens. "You have faced your first task as Power Rangers, and you have acquitted yourself well, both in hand-to-hand and in using your zords."

"Yeah, tell me about it; that was bloody _wicked_!" Ron said, grinning broadly as he looked around at the others. "Come on, can you three honestly say that the zords weren't the most awesome things you've ever seen in your lives?"

Harry smiled slightly. "Yeah, they _were _pretty impressive…" he said, nodding thoughtfully.

"They were designed that way," Dumbledore's portrait smiled at them, before the smile faded and his expression became more businesslike. "However, you must remember that the zords are not toys; unless the situation calls for it, you should never use them in battle."

"Oh, so we can't just bring out the Megazord and stomp all over the little monsters?" Ginny asked, pouting slightly. "And I was really looking forward to that too…"

Then a thought occurred to her, and she looked at Dumbledore curiously.

"By the way," she said, her voice with a slightly accusing tone to it, "can you explain how, according to Voldemort-" she didn't even notice Ron flinch slightly at the name "- Snape knows about the existence of the Gems?"

"Really?" Dumbledore asked, raising one eyebrow. He sighed slightly as he stared up at the top frame. "I should have _known _he was up to something…"

"What?" Hermione asked, looking rather confused by this new turn of events. "What do you mean, you should have known he was up to something?"

"Oh, on some occasions I found him in my office when I had briefly been called away for some reason or another, but he always claimed that he had only arrived a minute or so before me and merely been waiting," Dumbledore explained, looking around at the four students regretfully. "I should have known he must have been looking around my office in secret at the time, but-"

"You wanted to believe the best in your appointed staff member, correct?" Dimitria said, looking at him inquiringly. When Dumbledore nodded, Dimitria merely smiled beneath her veil. "In that case, it can hardly be a bad thing to wish to believe the best in someone you felt you could trust, can it?"

"Yes, probably…" Dumbledore mused thoughtfully to himself for a moment, before smiling gratefully at Dimitria. "Thank you, my dear."

"You're welcome, Albus," Dimitria replied.

"So," Harry said, looking at Dumbledore inquiringly, "what do we do now?"

Dumbledore sighed as he looked at Harry. "Harry…" he began, regret evident on his face, "I'm sorry for this, but…"

"I have to go to the Dursleys, huh?" Harry asked, sighing and glancing briefly up at the ceiling. "Ah well; I'll manage, I guess."

"What? NO!" Ginny cried, glaring at Dumbledore. Ron and Hermione had an idea, of course, but due to the time they'd spent together over the last few months, she was the only person who had any _real _idea what the Dursleys had put Harry through during the nine or so years prior to Hogwarts.

"You _can't _make him go back there!" she yelled at the portrait, apparently uncaring of Harry's embarrassment or the stares she was drawing from the other three people in the room. "Do you even _know _what they did to him all that time?"

"Uh… Ginny?" Ron asked, looking at his sister slightly nervously. "They… uh… they can't be _that _bad…"

Ginny rounded on Ron in anger. "_Not that bad_!" she roared at him. "He once drank _cleaning fluid _because he wanted to get away from them and maybe- _maybe­_- be with his parents, _and he was seven years old at the time_!"

Ron and Hermione's eyes widened in horror, while Harry just pretended to be distracted by something outside the window. He knew that Ginny was only trying to help him, of course- after all, with the horcruxes and their new Guardian powers, he had enough on his plate without having to deal with abusive relatives- but he still wished she wouldn't tell Ron and Hermione the dirty details of his life before Hogwarts…

Suddenly, Dumbledore chuckled.

"Tell me, Miss Weasley," he asked casually, leaning on the arm of his chair in the portrait, "do you really think that I would expect Harry to go back to the Dursleys, now possessing the ability to use magic on them any time he sees fit, and _not _take the opportunity to get even?"

Harry suddenly turned back to look at Dumbledore, an eager gleam in his eyes.

"You… you mean…?" he asked, his eyes flicking down to the gem on his wrist.

"Indeed, Harry," Dumbledore nodded, before looking over at Ron, Hermione and Ginny. "And, of course, the three of you are at liberty to join him in his residence for the next month or so; after all, it would hardly be fair to divide the four of you before you have fully mastered your new abilities, now, would it?"

Harry and Ginny looked over at each other briefly, an eager grin on their faces, and then Harry glanced over to Ron and Hermione.

"What do you say?" he asked, grinning. "Shall we give them a lesson they'll never forget?"

Ron and Hermione merely nodded as they pulled out their wands.

Noting Dimitria's critical expression, Harry sighed and looked over at her.

"Don't worry, Dimitria; we're not going to overdo it," he assured her. "They might get a bit of a shock, but I'm not going to turn them into cockroaches and squash them, or anything extreme like that."

"It'd be an improvement…" Ginny muttered to herself, but she was so quiet that nobody else heard her.

"Anyway, you had best be off," Dumbledore said, the portrait's eyes briefly flicking to the window. "It would appear that the others are returning from wherever they retreated to; it would probably be best if you informed them of your new… plans for the first month or so of the holidays."

"And… after that?" Harry asked, looking at Dumbledore inquiringly.

"Well, with the protection of the wards exhausted, I would strongly recommend that you leave as soon as possible and begin searching for the remaining horcruxes," Dumbledore replied. "However, Dimitria and I have a few things we need to investigate in that time; she shall inform you if something comes up that will necessitate a change of plan."

"Such as?" Ginny asked, raising a critical eyebrow.

Dumbledore merely smiled at her. "You shall know when the time comes, Miss Weasley, I assure you," he said.

The four teenagers looked at their two new mentors for a few moments, but when neither of them chose to elaborate, Harry just sighed and looked back at the others.

"Well, we'd better go; your families aren't going to wait forever," he said, glancing down at the 'bracelets' that held the Gems. "Don't forget; we should probably cover our gems with our sleeves."

"Oh yeah; avoid awkward questions, right?" Ron said, as he and the girls took Harry's advice and slid the bracelets further up their sleeves.

Harry nodded briefly at Ron and then began to walk down the stairs to the main school, followed by the others.

* * *

As soon as the door had closed behind the four Rangers, Dumbledore looked over at Dimitria.

"Are you sure your course of action is a wise one?" he asked, leaning back slightly in his chair to look at her. "While I acknowledge the point Zordon was making when he took that step, the difficulty lies in finding someone who meets the appropriate qualifications…"

Dimitra shook her head reassuringly. "You have no need to worry, Albus; I have already selected the candidate," she replied to him. "He has already proven himself to be a good choice in this situation, and, even after a decade of near-inactivity, he is still prepared to fight for this world. I am sure that he will acquit himself well with the others, and provide the new team with the experience needed to overcome this new challenge."

Dumbledore sighed and nodded. "I only hope that you are correct," he said, nodding briefly at Dimitria. "If we fail, Harry fails… and that must _not _happen."

Dimitria nodded briefly, and then vanished in another brilliant burst of white light as Dumbledore settled back into his portrait and began to sleep.


	5. Reunions

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

A few hours later, Harry and Ginny were sitting in an empty compartment of the Hogwarts Express, heading back to King's Cross from Dumbledore's funeral, Ron and Hermione having gone off to find the food trolley and get some snacks.

After the tenga had been defeated and the Zords had been returned to their hiding places, people had started to return to the grounds. In the majority of cases, people had only been able to Apparate down to Hogsmeade due to the number of children that had to be side-along apparated, but that had still been near enough for them to see the tenga fall to the Guardian Megazord.

After a few moments in which they'd waited to see if the tenga would rise again, the groups that had retreated to Hogsmeade had come back to the funeral to see if there was anyone else left behind. Shortly after Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had returned to the Weasleys, along with some other groups who'd merely retreated to the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, the students had gone back to the Hogwarts Express…

_Perhaps for the last time_, Harry thought to himself, as he stared out of the window. He knew he shouldn't be thinking negatively, but he had to face facts. After all, the odds were slim that Hogwarts would be open next year, with Voldemort active and Dumbledore now dead. Unless they could find and destroy the remaining horcruxes, Voldemort would remain active…

"Harry?" a voice said, breaking into his train of thought. Looking over, Harry saw Ginny looking at him, a determined expression on her face as she looked in his direction.

"Uh… yes?" he said, trying to sound casual and failing miserably.

"I've been thinking about it, and there's no reason that we can't be together," she explained, looking critically at him.

Harry sighed. "Ginny, I already told you, we can't be-"

"Because of Voldemort?" she asked, raising a critical eyebrow at him. "Harry, even _before _this happened, that didn't make any sense. You don't think Snape or Malfoy won't tell him about us? They don't know we broke up. And even if you tell him that you don't care about me, he'll know. You told me he's a Leglimens, and even _with _the power of the Gem, you were never good at closing your mind- no offence meant."

"Uh… none taken," Harry said, looking at her in confusion. "But… what did you mean, _before _this happened?"

"Well, after we've become Power Rangers, do you really think that I can just stay out of harm's way?" Ginny asked, looking at Harry enquiringly. "It's not like you can tell me not to get involved; without the Serpent, you can't form the Megazord in a fight when things get dangerous, and the Serpent won't do anything without me."

She reached over to take Harry's hand, and stared into his eyes with an almost pleading expression. "Harry, I'll be in danger as a Guardian whether or not we're involved. Wouldn't you prefer it if I was in danger for _both _of them, rather than just the Guardian thing?"

Harry looked back at her for a moment, and then smiled and nodded.

"Just one thing," he said, looking over at her with a slightly apprehensive expression.

"Yes?" Ginny asked, a slightly nervous aspect on her face.

Harry leaned over, grabbed Ginny's wrist, and pulled her towards him for a brief but passionate kiss on the lips.

Harry pulled back slightly after a few seconds, and smiled casually at Ginny.

"Will you accept that as my apology?" he asked.

Ginny looked critically back at him.

"I don't know, Harry," she said, tutting slightly as she shook her head. "I may need more convincing…"

Harry smiled and, leaning back into the seat, tugged slightly on Ginny's wrist to pull her towards him…

* * *

"Can you_ believe _it?" Ron asked, a wide grin splitting his features as he looked at Hermione, the two of them walking down the express towards the carriage where they'd arranged to meet Harry and Ginny. "I mean, the Badger was just… and that sword was so…"

"_Ron_," Hermione said, glaring over at him with a harsh gleam in her eyes, "if you don't stop talking, I'll cast a Silencing Charm on you; our powers are meant to be kept _secret_, remember?"

"C'mon, Hermione, don't you think I was keeping an eye out for anyone who might be listening?" Ron asked, looking slightly insulted that she'd even think something like that about him. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm a bit over-excited, but please, you get to control an enormous blue bird and you're not even a _little _excited about it? Be-"

Whatever Ron had been about to say was forgotten as he and Hermione opened the door of the last compartment in the carriage and found themselves staring at Harry and Ginny, lying on the seat as though it were a bed, kissing as though trying to make a meal out of each other's mouths, and with Harry's shirt and Ginny's blouse both unbuttoned.

If Ginny hadn't been wearing a bra, Ron would probably have been ready to gouge his eyes out with his own wand.

"OH MY GOD!" Hermione screamed, staring at her two friends in shock. Suddenly realising that they were no longer alone, Harry and Ginny quickly parted and stared over at the door, Harry instinctively grabbing the edge of his shirt and moving it into a position that at least concealed Ginny's breasts from view.

It was eventually Hermione who broke the awkward silence that had descended over the carriage.

"We'll… um… we'll wait outside while you two change, OK?" she said, grabbing Ron by the collar and hauling him out the door, shutting it behind her. Ron, she was disturbed to note, actually looked as though he was about explode of either embarrassment or rage, until she grabbed him by the shirt and pinned him to the window opposite the compartment.

"Look," she said, staring her long time friend in the eyes, "you may have some problems with seeing your best friend in that kind of position with your sister, but let me just remind of the facts. Harry loves Ginny. Ginny loves Harry. They are the only two people in the world who can truly understand what their lives are like. It is not your concern what they do, and if you _ever_ attempt to break them up, I will not only Petrify you, but I will then see what effect occurs when the Cutting Curse is applied to the male reproductive organs. Now, are we clear?"

Ron, who had gone from red to white at her last comment, merely nodded.

"Good," Hermione said, as she nodded politely at him before releasing his collar and returning to the compartment, where Harry and Ginny were now at least fully dressed, even if they still both looked a bit short of breath.

"Ah, here you are," Hermione said dismissively, evidently trying to act as though the earlier events had never taken place. "So, now that we're staying at the Dursleys for a month, how would you all recommend we spend our leisure time?"

"Well, uh, checking anything about who R.A.B. is would probably be the best move, right?" Harry said, he and Ginny having briefly exchanged confused and relieved looks at the nonchalant attitudes of their friends; Hermione wasn't sure if Harry had been expecting to be hexed or beaten by Ron, but he was evidently grateful at escaping either fate.

Hermione nodded. "True," she said, before glancing down at the gem on her wrist, hidden beneath her blouse. "I should probably also try and check the news archives for anything on the Power Rangers; it might be useful to know more about the kind of dangers that the past teams had to deal with, in case Voldemort comes up with any more unpleasant surprises from the past for us to handle."

"And maybe you could see if there's an active Ranger team we could ask for assistance?" Ron put in. "I mean, we need all the help we can get, right?"

Hermione shook her head. "That wouldn't work, Ron," she said, looking critically over at her friend. "Like us, the majority of the Ranger teams operated on a policy of strict secrecy; the only team whose real names were known to the general public was the team called 'Lightspeed Rescue', and I'm not even sure where they went after defeating the demons that were their main adversaries. No, unless one of the old Rangers comes to _us_, we're on our own…"

* * *

The next few hours were spent in constant discussion, varying between either possible horcrux locations or the history and powers of some of the past Ranger teams. They became so engrossed in their conversations that it was only when Harry glanced out the window and saw muggle London flying by the carriage windows that he realised they were nearly at the platform, and turned to look at the others apologetically.

"We're here," he said, sighing as he jerked a thumb out the window. "Look, are you _sure _you want to do this? I mean, the Dursleys-"

Ginny clapped a hand over her boyfriend's mouth and glared at him.

"Harry, for once if your life, _be selfish_," she said, the determination in her eyes so intense that she almost seemed like she was prepared to incinerate him. "We're here, we're going with you, and if your aunt, uncle or cousin give us _any _trouble, I'll Bat-Bogey them like I've never Bat-Bogeyed anyone before."

"Pretty much what she said, mate," Ron said, indicating himself and Hermione. "We're with you all the way."

Harry swallowed slightly, unable to fully conceal how good it felt to know that they were still willing to stay with him, and nodded gratefully.

"OK," he said, as the four of them pulled down their trunks and began to head for the carriage door. "Let's go."

As they walked out onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Harry couldn't help but chuckle slightly as he heard some of the students discussing the Guardian Rangers with their friends.

He'd always hated the attention he got as the 'Boy Who Lived', true, but this was different. He wasn't getting the attention for something he couldn't even remember, he was getting it for something he'd _chosen _to do and _liked _to do…

Besides, at least it wouldn't attract any more public interest in _him _than he had already; after all, nobody even knew who the Guardians were under the masks.

As they walked out of the barrier back into the muggle world, and Harry's eyes fell on the Dursleys, he grinned again.

Oh, this was going to be sweet…

"Hi, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley," he said, walking over to them as bold as brass, Ron, Hermione and Ginny behind him. "Glad you could make it. These are my friends, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione; you remember Ron, right?" he added, indicating his friend.

He knew Uncle Vernon would, of course; Ron's phone call during the summer after his second year, coupled with Ron, Fred, George and Mr Weasley practically destroying the living room after a flawed attempt at floo travel, were still sour points for his uncle even now.

"Your 'friends', aren't they?" Vernon answered, spitting the word 'friend' out as though it were a swear word. "Well, say goodbye to them; you'll be seeing them next term, if you're lucky."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Harry said, smiling broadly. "They're coming with us."

It was at times like this that Colin Creevey would have come in useful; the expression on the Dursleys' faces was worth its weight in gold to Harry.

"They're _WHAT_!" Vernon roared at Harry, Petunia and Dudley staring at the four young Rangers in horror. "ARE YOU CRAZY, BOY! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK WE'LL LET YOU BRING YOUR FREAK FRIENDS INTO OUR HOUSE!"

Hermione sighed, pulled out her wand, and pointed it at Uncle Vernon.

"Because if you don't, I will force you to bray like a donkey and run around on all fours like a dog until you give us some sign that you are willing to fulfil our request," she said, her expression as she stared at Vernon holding the same amount of warmth as was to be found in the depths of the Artic. "I recommend nodding, if it comes to that."

Vernon's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the wand, but he seemed to calm down slightly as his eyes flicked over to Harry.

"Y-you can't do that," he said, trying to sound like Hermione's threat hadn't terrified him. "Y-you're not allowed to use that… that t-_thing ­_outside of that madhouse…"

Ron sighed. "I think you'll find, Mr Dursley, that what with the war being on and all, the rules have been relaxed a bit," he said, grinning broadly at the three muggles. "Not only can we use magic outside of school, we can… well, actually I think that sums it all up, doesn't it?" he said, glancing around at the others.

"Precisely," Ginny said, glaring at the three Dursleys, her eyes particularly focusing on Dudley, as though she was imagining him roasting on an open fire.

Vernon coughed slightly in a nervous manner and glanced over at the four large trunks beside the students.

"Your… um… your… _luggage_-" he began, before Hermione interrupted him.

"Won't fit in the boot?" she asked brightly. "That's all right; I'll just sort that now. _Reducio_!"

As soon as she'd spoken, the four trunks shrunk down rapidly until they were each no bigger than the average matchbox.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!" Ron added cheerily, waving his wand at the four small boxes, which instantly floated upwards to a height where their owners could simply reach out and put them in their pockets.

Their trunks in their pockets, Harry turned to smile at the Dursleys, who now looked as though they were standing on the very edge of Hell itself.

"So, shall we go?" he asked brightly.

* * *

A couple of hours later, as he stood in the living room of Privet Drive, facing the Dursleys, Harry felt as though he'd just received all the Christmas and birthday presents the Dursleys had never given him all at once. Having driven back to Privet Drive in silence, Harry had then asked the other three to head up to his room and try and arrange it to accommodate three extra people, while he had a little 'chat' with his relatives.

"All right," he said, looking at the three Dursleys with a more-than-slightly-wicked grin on his face. "You don't like me, and I don't care for you much either, but, for the next month or so, my friends and I have to stay with you, so I'm laying down a few ground rules. Firstly, we all get enough to eat; secondly, we won't bother you if you don't bother us- apart from at mealtimes, of course."

"Harry?" a voice called from behind him. Turning around, he grinned briefly as he saw Ginny standing there, dressed in a dark green nightgown and dressing-gown and looking at him inquiringly. "We've pretty much got the room sorted out; are you coming?"

Harry smiled at her. "I'll be up in a moment, dear," he said, leaning over to kiss her briefly on the lips. As she ran back upstairs, Harry turned back to look at the Dursleys and smiled. "Oh, and one more thing; if you've got anything that needs done over the next month, have Dudley do it."

Vernon rose up as though about to say something, but Harry tapped the wand that hung at his side lightly and Vernon sank back down, fuming visibly as he did so.

"Right then," Harry said brightly, grinning at his relatives as he indicated the door. "That's everything; you can go now."

Vernon and Petunia instantly got up from the sofa and ran out of the room as fast as they could without actually appearing afraid, but Dudley just kept on staring at the door that Ginny had left the room by with an even more gormless look on his face.

"Yes?" Harry asked politely, looking inquiringly at Dudley.

Dudley turned to stare at his cousin, a blank look on his face as his mouth opened and closed in a reasonable imitation of a goldfish before he finally spoke.

"H-how did you get a thing like her?" he asked eventually

Harry chuckled.

"Magic, '_Diddums_'," he said teasingly, as he turned around and walked out of the room. "Trust me; it helps."

* * *

Once up in his room, Harry was pleasantly surprised by the changes that Hermione had effected. Not only had she restored the trunks to their normal sizes and then magically expanded the room so that it was bigger on the inside than the outside (Harry was reminded vaguely of that old science-fiction series he'd enjoyed when he was younger and the Dursleys had forgotten to lock him up), she had also created three duplicates of his bed for the others to sleep in, set up a handy screen behind which she and Ginny could change into their pyjamas and avoid being seen by Harry and Ron, and even found the time to create an extra wardrobe or two for their clothes.

"Wow…" Harry said, as he stepped into his newly expanded room and stared around it before his eyes fell on the other three Guardians. He noted (With no small degree of amusement) that all three of them were wearing colour-coordinated pyjamas according to their Ranger powers; Ginny's dark green nightgown, Ron's slightly dulled yellow T-shirt and trousers, and Hermione in a light blue sleeveless top with identically-coloured trousers.

Still, Harry couldn't talk; whether by coincidence or something else, his current pyjamas were red.

"Ah, you're here," Hermione said, standing up and smiling over at her friend. "Everything go well with your relatives?"

"Yeah, I think so," Harry said, smiling at her as he sat down beside the others. "Well, they know the rules now; don't bother us, and they wake up the same shape as they were the previous day."

"Perfect," Ginny said, smiling over at her boyfriend before she glanced at her watch and sighed. "We'd better get some sleep; it's getting late, and we've got a lot of things to get done in the morning."

Harry nodded. "Good point," he said, standing up and grabbing his pyjamas. "I'll just go and change."


	6. Departures

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: I apologise for the lack of Dursley-related action in this chapter; I just couldn't be bothered paying too much attention to them. Besides, I've got a couple of characters from the original 'Power Rangers' series who are just _dying _to have a rematch in the next chapter or so, and I didn't want to keep it waiting

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

The following few weeks at Privet Drive were by far the most enjoyable time that Harry had ever had at his aunt and uncle's house. Not only was he, for once in his life, _not _being bullied or forced into doing chores that he hated when there was someone else perfectly capable of doing the work in question (Dudley, naturally), but, with his two closest friends _and _his girlfriend there as well…

Well, the Dursleys were trapped in a nightmare. They just couldn't be sure whether their next word or sentence would be the phrase that made Harry lose his temper and hit them with a spell of some kind. He also noticed that they seemed particularly determined to avoid aggravating Ginny, although that might just be because she had given Dudley a rapid knee to the groin after he'd tried to come on to her.

In the meantime, when not making the Dursleys' lives a living hell just by _being _in Privet Drive, the new Guardian Rangers were spending their time in Harry's room, either researching possible candidates who might turn out to be R.A.B. or practicing unarmed combat methods from a selection of books Hermione had ordered via the owl order account she'd set up while at Hogwarts with Flourish and Blotts; she normally used the school owls to deliver her orders, but on this occasion she'd used Hedwig to send the order forms.

On request from Ron and Ginny, Harry had also managed to track down a few newspaper articles about the past Ranger teams that he'd saved from old newspapers when he was younger. Back when the Dursleys had constantly forced him to just work, Harry had rescued a few newspaper articles he found interesting when he'd been made to take the rubbish out, and the Power Rangers comprised a few of those articles. Admittedly, the articles mostly covered the major events such as one team apparently being replaced by another (Based on the change in uniform, Zords, and more often than not location), such as the transition from Mariner Bay and the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers to Silver Hills and the Time Force Rangers, or the emergence of other Rangers such as the Lunar Wolf Wild Force Ranger or the Crimson and Navy Thunder Ninja Rangers, but they still helped give the Weasleys a good idea of what the past Ranger teams had commonly ended up dealing with.

The unarmed combat training had met with mixed success to date. So far they had managed to get the hang of some of the more basic moves- throwing their foe over the shoulder, karate chops, that sort of thing- but they still hadn't had a chance to try their powers out in an actual battle situation. Of course, they'd trained against each other, and all four of them were becoming pretty skilled at certain forms of martial arts, but it still wasn't the same as actually taking on some adversaries in a fight, or getting first-hand training from a professional...

Their chance to test their skills finally came after a couple of weeks at Privet Drive. Harry and Ginny had gone off to pick some food for them while the Dursleys were out, and Ron and Hermione had just finished some fighting practice in Harry's room.

* * *

"Oh god…" Ron muttered, as he collapsed on his bed and glanced over in exasperation at Hermione, who was stretching in the middle of the room. "Why is it that every single _past _Ranger team couldn't go one _week _without ending up tackling monsters, and yet we've spent nearly _three _weeks just practicing?" 

"'They also serve who only stand and wait', Ron," Hermione said, glancing over at her friend critically. "You can't expect _every _bit of work we get to be all action, you know. Besides, we spent a lot of time waiting for the proverbial 'other shoe' to drop during those attacks in our second year, and you didn't complain _then_ about the forced inactivity, as I recall."

Ron sighed as he sat up to look at Hermione, who had stopped stretching and was now sitting on the bed opposite his.

"Yeah, but, well, _then _we didn't know what we could do about it, you know?" he said, shrugging dismissively. "I mean, we only worked out that it was a basilisk near the end of that mess; here we _know _who the cause of the problem is, we _know _what he can-"

There was a sudden crash from downstairs, as though something made of wood had just broken, and Ron and Hermione instantly leapt to their feet, exchanging nervous glances at each other.

"Voldemort?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe…" Hermione said, as she glanced at the door in confusion. "If not personally, than certainly by proxy. I mean, we've always been told that the only reason Harry stays here is because his mother's sacrifice gives him protection when he lives with her blood, but who's to say Voldemort hasn't figured out a way around that now that he's got Rita's powers?"

Ron nodded as he glanced down at his gem, gleaming prominently on his wrist.

_So much for boredom_… he thought to himself as he glanced over at Hermione, who had also glanced down at her gem.

"Shall we?" he asked his friend, tapping the gleaming stone on his wrist inquiringly.

Hermione pulled out her wand and nodded resolutely as the two young wizards pointed their wands at the gems.

"Hufflepuff Guardian, _attivare_!" Ron cried, as he was instantly clad in the yellow costume of the Yellow Guardian Ranger.

"Ravenclaw Guardian, _attivare_!" Hermione cried, as the Blue Guardian Ranger costume appeared over her as well. "Let's go!" she said, indicating the door to the room.

As the two of them ran from the room towards the stairs, they glanced down into the hall and saw around six Death Eaters standing there, looking up at them with an eager grin that rapidly faded to confusion.

"Who are _you_?" a voice said; it sounded like Macnair, the former Ministry of Magic employee who'd nearly executed Buckbeak, but the only real hint to his identity aside from the voice was his discoloured eye from the battle of the Department of Mysteries, visible through his Death Eater mask. Evidently, he must have managed to escape from Azkaban in recent times; after all, with something like the tengas on Voldemort's side, it wouldn't have been _that _hard to fly in relatively undetected and pull a few people out of the otherwise deserted castle that Azkaban was these days after the Dementors vanished.

Ron just chuckled slightly as he looked at the six figures before them. He had to admit, he was looking forward to seeing just exactly _how _great the power boost they got from the gems was…

"We are the Hogwarts Guardian Power Rangers, my good Death Eaters," he said, leaning nonchalantly against the wall as he looked at their foes, grateful that the Dursleys weren't here; at least this way they wouldn't have to worry about 'civilians' getting caught in the crossfire, no matter how unpleasant they were personally. "And, right now, you have two choices; fight and lose, or give up now and get off lightly. Which is it going to be?"

"_Crucio_!" another Death Eater cried, firing the spell at Ron, who merely raised his wand and yelled out "_Protego_!" Instantly the Unforgiveable, reflected by the Gem-enhanced shield, bounced back to its originator who let out a brief scream of pain before Ron lowered the shield.

"_Diffindo_!" Hermione cried, leaping up into the air and firing the spell at another Death Eater she couldn't identify; it struck him in the shoulder and he collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony as blood leaked down his arm.

Ron and Hermione weren't prepared to allow the Death Eaters a moment of breathing space; while their six attackers were staring at their two downed comrades in shock, Ron leapt up into the air to join Hermione as the two of them landed in front of the Death Eaters, their swords drawn as they faced their adversaries.

"Now then," Ron said, smiling as he raised the powerful blade that seemed to be the only weapon that the Guardian Gems gave them for hand-to-hand combat, "it's cliché, I know, but… we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your call."

As one of the Death Eaters- an extremely large blond one who Ron vaguely remembered (From Mad-Eye Moody's briefings on known Death Eaters while at Grimmauld Place) was called Yaxley- pulled out his wand and pointed it at the two of them, Ron sighed, swung his sword upwards as he dived forward, and watched in satisfaction as the top third or so of the wand fell to the floor with a sad little clunk.

Before the man could even yell at Ron in rage, the Yellow Guardian had grabbed the Death Eater's arm and thrown him off towards the Blue Guardian, who raised her wand and yelled "_Petrificus Totalus_!", leaving the large man flat on his front, his nose pressed against the carpet so closely that it was obviously broken.

"Shall we take this outside?" Hermione asked, glancing over at Ron as the three still-mobile Death Eaters pulled out their wands.

"An excellent idea," Ron said, smiling as the two Guardians pulled out their wands.

"_Expelliarmus_!" they both cried. Instantly, all six Death Eaters, regardless of current physical condition, were blasted out of Privet Drive and into the middle of the street, closely followed by two rather surprised Guardian Rangers.

"Whoa…" Ron muttered to himself, as he glanced down at his gem. "I knew this thing gave us a boost, but on _that _kind of scale…"

"Impressive, isn't it?" Hermione said, grinning as she turned to look at the recovering Death Eaters. "Now then, shall we- oh dear…"

"What?" Ron asked, glancing over in Hermione's direction and seeing what she saw; a mass of tengas flying in their direction at top speed. "Oh…"

Hermione sighed as she stared at the advancing foot soldiers.

"You know," she said, as she glanced over at Ron, "I know we're not officially _meant _to do this, but I don't want to have to deal with the property damage that will result if those things get here, and given their substantial number advantage, I think I need to take drastic measures."

"Such as?" Ron said inquiringly.

"This," Hermione said, as she pointed her wand at her gem once again. "Eagle Guardian Zord, _attivare_!"

A lue beam shot from the gem, and, almost instantly, a loud screech was heard as the brilliant blue form of Hermione's zord appeared in the sky.

"Be right back," Hermione said in a mockingly sweet voice as she leapt up into the zord, leaving Ron (And, he noted out of the corner of his helmet, the remaining four Death Eaters in a physical condition that might allow them to pose a threat) staring at her in astonishment as she used her zord to tear into the tengas like they were bowling pins.

Then, of course, Ron turned around and lashed out with a powerful kick at the nearest Death Eater, starting the fight up all over again.

This time, in open ground, the Death Eaters didn't have a chance. Thanks to the instinctive knowledge provided by the gem, Ron moved with a grace that made him seem more like a cat than the badger his helmet resembled. Slashing his way through his foes, while at the same time avoiding doing any damagethat would killhis opponentseither now or eventually, Ron was soon the only figure left standing; the various Death Eaters were all clutching their arms or legs and staring at him in horror as blood streamed through their fingers.

Glancing up, Ron was relieved to see that the majority of the tengas had already been eliminated by the Eagle's massive claws, and the few exceptions were already turning tail and retreating; foot soldiers or not, they evidently still had some self-preservation instincts.

"What the…?" a voice said from behind Ron. Glancing down the street, Ron was relieved to see Harry and Ginny coming towards him with various shopping bags in their hands; evidently their trip had been successful.

"We had a bit of trouble with tengas, as well as a few Death Eaters who somehow managed to get into Privet Drive, but we were able to fight it off," Ron said dismissively, as the Eagle Zord flew overhead and Hermione landed beside her friends as gracefully as though she'd just stepped off a flight of stairs, her zord flying off back to its hiding place in the castle.

"So, putting aside possible issues relating to how the hell they got through those 'wards' that are meant to be around here, any ideas what we do with those guys?" he added, indicating the immobilised Death Eaters.

Harry shrugged casually as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass circle.

"Second bit's easy enough," he said, tapping the circle in question as everyone turned to look at him. "Dimitria gave me this thing to let me keep in touch with her; I haven't had the chance to use it yet, but it should be easy enough to get the thing working."

"And you didn't mention this earlier because…?" Ginny asked.

Harry shrugged. "Just didn't see the point; I wanted to see if we'd need it before I mentioned anything," he said, as Rona and Hermione powered down to their normal forms as he raised the circle to eye level. "Hello, Dimitria?"

"_Yes, Harry_?" the voice of the former mentor of the Turbo Rangers said at the other hand. "_What seems to be the trouble_?"

"We've got a few Death Eaters here; they seem to have figured out some way to get through the wards around Privet Drive," Harry said, glancing around slightly as though to make sure another group of Death Eaters weren't sneaking up on them. "There's probably some reason why the wards aren't active, and I was already planning on leaving soon, but we need some way of dealing with the Death Eaters; any ideas?"

"_I see_…" Dimitria said, sounding very contemplative as she paused for a moment. "_Dumbledore and I shall dispatch aurors to collect the Death Eaters, but you four should make immediate haste towards Grimmauld Place; if Death Eaters can penetrate the wards, it is evidently no longer safe_."

"Ah, you mean we can't continue to torment these guys?" Ginny asked, pouting slightly as she indicated the damaged front wall of Privet Drive. "And I hadn't even managed to try out my modified Bat Bogey Hex on them yet…"

"What was different about it?" Ron asked, but then held up his hand. "Actually, don't tell me; I get the impression I _really _don't want to know."

"Let's just get packed and go before they get back," Harry sighed, jerking his thumb towards the house. "Personally, I am _not _interested in finding out how mad they'll be when they see that damage…"

* * *

In Dumbledore's old office at Hogwarts, as Dimitria put down the glass circle that was used as her end of the communication link between her and the new Rangers, she smiled as she looked over at Dumbledore. 

"It is time," she said. "He must go if he is to meet them there."

The portrait nodded. "Agreed," he said, as Dimitria stood up and raised one hand. "But are you sure he will listen to you? After all, you two have never met, to my knowledge-"

Dimitria chuckled slightly.

"You are too concerned at times, Albus," she told him. "You must learn a simple fact of this life; once a Ranger, always a Ranger. He will help us."

* * *

An hour or so later, outside the Red Dragon Dojo in Angel Grove, two men stood at the door, talking hastily as one of them hauled a bag over his shoulder and passed something back to the other. 

"Look, I appreciate the concern, but I really don't think I'll be needing it; I'm just going to give them a bit of a hand," the figure with the bag said, passing a small, vaguely rectangular object back to the other figure. "Besides, if _half _the rumours we've heard are true, I need to know that Angel Grove will be safe, and-"

"I've still got my Zeonizers; I'll be fine with them, you _know _that," the other guy said, passing the object back to the man with the bag. "But you know as well as I do that this is your only source of power now; if you don't have this, you'll be in trouble if things go badly."

He chuckled slightly as he looked at his friend. "Besides, where's the fun in helping out the new guys without giving them a demonstration of how the original guys did it back in the day?"

The other man didn't reply. He just stared at the object for a moment or two, deep in thought. Then he sighed, smiled up at his friend, and took it.

"OK, you've sold me," he said, as he tucked it into his pocket. "Take care of the dojo while I'm gone. I'll see you around, huh? Just take care of things while I'm gone, Rocky," he said, clasping his old friend's hand.

"You know I will, Jase," Rocky DeSantos replied, as he and Jason Lee Scott shook hands briefly before Jason turned around and walked off to his car.


	7. Old Foes, New Friends

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As they stood in the main living-room of Grimmauld Place, blissfully deserted of any members of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron could only hope that they'd soon have an explanation as to what they were expected to do next.

Fortunately, they hadn't been forced to deal with the Dursleys before they'd departed; with the aid of a couple of packing spells Tonks had taught Hermione and Ginny, their various luggage had been gathered together in a matter of moments. Then, having shrunk the trunks down to pocket-size once again, the four Guardians had dashed out to the main street of Privet Drive (Now noticeably absent of Death Eaters or tengas), apparated straight to Grimmauld Place…

And had now been waiting around here for nearly two hours without anyone coming to check up on them.

"What is _taking _them so long?" Ron asked, glancing over at a clock on the wall as he impatiently drummed his fingers on a nearby table. "I mean, where's the point in having all that's left of one of the greatest wizards in the world and a hot alien woman on our side if they're not even going to sho- OUCH!" he yelled, rubbing the back of his head where Hermione had just slapped him. "What was that for?"

"Ron, Dimitria is serving as our _mentor_; you can't think of her as _hot_!" Hermione yelled at him harshly. "Honestly, do you think of _nothing _besides a woman's curves!"

"Hey!" Ron said, looking at her with an offended expression on his face. "I do _not _just think about that; that's totally unf-"

Fortunately for Harry and Ginny, a brilliant burst of light illuminated the middle of the room as Dimitria arrived in the middle of the room, and Ron and Hermione instantly shut up and turned to look in the direction of the light.

"Ah, good, you are all here," Dimitria said, smiling around at the Guardians.

"Well, where else could we go?" Harry asked, standing up and turning to look at Dimitria. "And come to that, what happened there anyway? How could they get through the blood wards; I thought I was meant to be _protected _at Privet Drive?"

"Correct," Dimitria said, nodding at Harry with a slightly apologetic look in her eyes; the rest of her face was, as ever, nearly impossible to make out. "However, Dumbledore and I fatally underestimated Voldemort. As it turned out, his use of your blood in the ritual of restoration near the end of your fourth year not only voided the protection your mother's sacrifice gave you, but, since he had your blood running through his veins-"

"He could eventually get through the wards around Privet Drive, since they're meant to protect _me_, and he now has part of me in him?" Harry asked, sighing as he slumped back into his chair. "Ah well… at least I don't have to go back any more."

Nobody else bothered to speak. Having spent the past few weeks with the Dursleys- even if the muggles in question had been too terrified to do much more than _speak _to them out of fear that they'd be turned into something horrible-, they could only agree with Harry's past 'stories' about his time in Privet Drive.

"So… what's our next move?" Hermione asked, looking at Dimitria curiously. "Start tracking down Voldemort's horcruxes?"

Dimitria shook her head. "No; that is important, but there is something else you must acquire first," she explained, as she looked at the new Rangers. "It is something that even Dumbledore did not know about until recently, but it concerns all four of you now; you must ensure that what I am about to reveal to you does not fall into Voldemort's hands."

"What is it?" Ginny asked, looking at their new mentor curiously.

"Simply put, it is a source of great power that was developed by Zordon, to be used once the Guardian Gems were activated," Dimitria explained. "He only completed it shortly before his departure from Earth, but he had always intended to create it to aid Gryffindor's fellow witches and wizards in their time of need; he simply lacked the means to do so before his Rangers were given access to a new source of power."

"OK…" Ron said, nodding thoughtfully as he took in what Dimitria was telling him. "So… what is it?"

Dimitria shook her head. "I cannot reveal that to you yet; the risk is too great," she replied. As the four Guardians looked at her with angry expressions, Dimitria raised her hands in a soothing gesture. "Please understand; it is not that I do not trust you. It is simply that I do not wish to run the risk of our opponent learning of this weapon before you have acquired it. Hogwarts is secure, but with the loss of this location as the Order of the Phoenix, as well as the destruction of the blood wards in Privet Drive, there is no longer that same level of security anywhere else, even in this location, and there may be spies hiding somewhere that we do not know about."

"You mean like Wormtail?" Ron asked.

Dimitria nodded. "Exactly," she said, before turning to look at the Guardians again. "Therefore, I have arranged that you shall meet another individual at a specific location; from there, he shall be able to guide you to the location where the power source is hidden."

"But-" Hermione began, before Dimitria raised a hand to stop her.

"Before you continue, there is no possibility that Voldemort's forces shall guess that we have told this man the location of the power in question; he has, to date, had no connection to the wizarding world, and only a few people in existence even know why we would ask him for aid in the first place," Dimitria explained. "He is a former member of the original team of Power Rangers, and has proven already that he is prepared to return to duty if he is needed; when one of the Rangers who succeeded his team was incapacitated for a spell, he took on that Ranger's powers until the Ranger had recovered. Trust me, he will help you."

"Ah," Harry said, nodding as he looked at Dimitria. "So, where is he, and how do we get there?"

"You will have to travel to him in the Eagle zord; he currently resides in America, so the journey will take some time, but the location where you are to meet him has been placed in the zord's memory, and thus little actual work will be required on your behalf," Dimitria replied, as she looked around at the others. "I have chosen a location in some mountains close to where the power has been concealed; your contact knows the location where Zordon concealed the power, as it is a site that has a connection to one of his past experiences as a Ranger."

"I see…" Ron said, nodding thoughtfully as he looked at their mentor, before standing up and looking around at the others. "Well; shall we be off?"

Nodding in agreement, the Guardians stood up from their seats and headed for the door; even though this place was no longer used as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, there were still countless anti-apparation wards around the place.

As soon as they were outside, the four Guardians closed their eyes, focused, and then found themselves standing around a mile outside the city, in a large field that appeared to have been recently ploughed. Having made a quick assessment of the surrounding area to make sure that there was nobody else nearby, Harry glanced over at Hermione, who nodded and raised her left wrist, the Guardian Gem gleaming as she aimed her wand at it.

"Eagle Guardian Zord, _Attivare_!" she cried out, as she aimed her wand at the blue stone. Instantly, a loud screech came from the sky, and the large blue zord flew down towards the four Guardians, landing on the ground as it 'stood' up, a door in its chest opening to reveal a relatively comfortable-looking transport area. It vaguely resembled the accommodation for overnight travellers in the Knight Bus; more spacious than what you'd expect in something the size the zord was on the outside, and managing to be comfortable without looking too relaxing.

"Nice…" Ron said, nodding in approval as he looked around the zord, before glancing back at Hermione. "Sure you can drive this thing?"

Hermione glared at him.

"_Ron_," she said, in an exasperated manner, "in case you're forgetting, we _all_ get an _instinctive _knowledge of how to pilot our Zords with the powers; I _think _I can get us to America, even _if _the flight will take a while!"

"Right then," Ginny said, eager to stop them before _another _argument broke out, "let's be off; the sooner we can get this power source, the sooner we can track down the horcruxes and finish this job.

Exchanging a brief glare at each other, Ron and Hermione turned away from each other and headed to their separate locations; Hermione clambered into the zord's cockpit while Ron joined Harry and Ginny inside the transport area. As Ron slumped into a seat furthest from the door (Probably for the sole purpose of avoiding Hermione if she came in) Harry and Ginny exchanged exasperated glances.

It was official; if they didn't do _something _to make the new Blue and Yellow Rangers realise how they felt about each other and force them to _act _on it, _somebody _was going to get hit with a spell of some kind…

Or, given the sword-like weapons the Guardians had when they were 'morphed', get stabbed in the gut.

As the powerful zord leapt into the air and began to fly towards America, at speeds that would have made _Concorde_ seem slow back in the days when it was still flying, Harry could only stare up at the ceiling and hope that they managed to find this 'power source' easily enough. The longer they waited, the more victims would be claimed by Voldemort's insane 'crusade' for blood purity…

And he would _not _allow anyone else to die.

* * *

At the foot of a collection of high mountains, dressed in a long black coat and trousers with a sleeveless white top underneath, Jason Lee Scott, Earth's original Red Ranger and the first true leader of a Ranger team against the forces of evil, stared up at the sky, glancing nervously at his watch as he scanned the eye for some sign of the Rangers he was supposed to be meeting here.

He still wasn't entirely clear on why _he'd _been the one Dimitria had asked to help the current team. He may have been one of the better fighters in the original Rangers (Much as he hated to blow his own trumpet), but even so, the only Ranger powers he still possessed were his original Red Tyrannosaurus powers; it wasn't like there weren't four _Zeo_ Rangers still in Angel Grove who wouldn't have been happy to help their successors out. Why send _him _over anyone else?

And come to that, why did she need to send him to give them directions anyway? Wouldn't it have been easier to just _tell _them where the power source was? There must be a reason for all this secrecy around the new Rangers, but what kind of villains could be _that _elaborate?

That was another thing that was puzzling him; who _were _the new guys? Jason generally managed to keep up-to-date with information on the current Ranger teams- as the leader of the original team, he found he had an almost paternal interest in the well-being of his successors- but there'd been no Ranger-related news since the showdown in Reefside with the Dino Thunder Rangers and that 'Zelzord' thing.

He had no reason to doubt his contact, of course- Tommy had told him about Dimitria shortly after he and the others had passed on the Turbo powers to their successors- but even so, he did wish he knew a bit more about these new guys…

Then a loud screech was heard in the sky, and Jason smiled.

_That sounds likely_, he thought to himself, as he turned his head and watched as a large blue bird flew through the air towards his location, already flying closer and closer to the ground as it approached his location.

Standing up, Jason raised a hand and waved at the zord to attract attention, and grinned as the zord began to dive towards a spot near him. As it came closer and closer to him, Jason smiled slight as he saw it was an eagle. At least that gave him _some _idea of what kind of Rangers he was dealing with here; Dimitria hadn't been very forthcoming about where these Rangers had acquired their powers.

Although there had been a few magic-based teams that had used vehicles of some make or description as Zords (The Turbo and Space Rangers, for example) animal-shaped Zords were still limited solely to those Rangers whose powers came from a magical source (He regarded the Quantum Ranger's Q-Rex zord as the exception that proved the rule rather than anything else). If nothing else, it helped him feel a bit more easy around them; there was something about the science-based Rangers that always made him feel uncomfortable for some reason.

As the zord landed a few feet away from him, Jason picked up the backpack he'd taken on this little 'hike' and walked towards it. As he approached, a hatch opened in the chest and three figures stepped out of it, a fourth climbing down from the cockpit in the head before the zord flew away into the sky, back to wherever it came from.

Walking closer to them, Jason smiled slightly as he took in their appearances. They all appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen, around the same age he'd been when he became a Ranger the first time, and consisted of two boys and two girls. The girls were both wearing blue jeans, but the brown-haired girl was wearing a tight blue long-sleeved T-shirt while the red-haired girl was wearing a green blouse. The boys were also in similar attire; black chinos in both cases, but the dark-haired boy in glasses with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead was in a loose red shirt, while the red-haired boy was wearing a slightly baggy yellow long-sleeved T-shirt.

_A _female_ Green Ranger, huh_? Jason thought to himself, smiling as he studied the redhead. _Well, so much for that constant in the colour scheme_…

As the four of them turned to look in his direction, Jason decided he might as well attend to the introductions; walking up to the boy in red, he smiled and held out his hand.

"Hi," he said, as the young man looked at him. "I was sent by Dimitria to help you find this power source; my name's Jason Lee Scott. You are?"

Taking Jason's hand, the boy smiled back at the martial artist as they shook hands.

"Harry Potter," he said, indicating his friends as he continued the introductions. "This is Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ginny's brother Ron."

"You're British?" Jason said, noting the accent in surprise; he'd never encountered a Ranger from anywhere other than America before.

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, we are; so what?" he asked, looking back at Jason curiously.

Jason just shrugged dismissively. "No reason; I've just never met a Ranger who wasn't American," he explained, before indicating the mountains behind him. "Anyway, Dimitria told me you're looking for something in the cave of the Crystal of Nightmares, so we'd best be off; it's a long way up there."

"The what?" 'Ginny' asked, looking at Jason in sudden shock.

"Don't worry; it's not there any more," Jason smiled reassuringly at the new Green Ranger as they began to walk. "It was used by one of my old foes to try and make my team lose its self-confidence so we couldn't use our powers; gave us nightmares of our worst experiences as Rangers- battles where we nearly died, that kind of thing. We managed to shatter the crystal and restore our self-confidence, but the cave itself is still there. Shouldn't take much longer than a couple of hours to get there if we walk fast enough."

"A couple of _hours_?" Ron asked, looking at Jason in shock. "Couldn't we just Apparate over there?"

Jason shook his head. "Dimitria mentioned that you could do something like that, but I wouldn't recommend it; there's apparently a whole bunch of 'wards' or something like that around the place that prevent us teleporting to this location until this power source is found by you guys."

"Oh well," Hermione said, shrugging dismissively. "I was always taught that life wasn't made to be easy. Let's get moving."

* * *

The following hike up the mountains was actually rather enjoyable, once you got past how tiring the walking could get. Despite their exercises over the past month or so, the Guardians weren't quite as used to physical activity as the previous Rangers had been, and were often lagging behind Jason as he climbed on ahead of him. The former Red Ranger almost made a mental note to see about helping them practice some martial arts moves later on, but decided it wasn't worth it; after all, he was only here to help them pick up the power source.

Besides, these guys were full-fledged _wizards_; why would they need his help? (They'd told him all about the source of their powers, even if they'd been reluctant to reveal _why _they needed them in the first place, and he'd been extremely impressed with their spell-casting abilities. Of course, the fact that Zordon had helped to create their powers all those centuries ago also helped him feel as though he related to them better; even around eight years after the Countdown, he still couldn't believe that Zordon was really gone…)

Then again, that fact still left him feeling confused about the situation. Why was he even needed here, and why would _wizards _need the abilities

"We're here," he said, stopping as he looked at the cave before them.

"This is it?" Harry asked, looking at the cave before them in surprise. "I was expecting something a bit more… elaborate, I guess."

Jason smiled. "You want elaborate, you should have seen some of the locations where Rita and Zedd launched their attacks on us," he said casually as they walked into the cave. "Trust me, the Dimension of Despair and the Deserted Planet weren't laughing matters. Anyway, as far as scale goes, a few of their monsters weren't all that impressive either; I _still_ don't understand how Rita ever expected a talking pig with an 'allergy' to spicy food to beat us."

"Oh, you mean Pudgy Pig?" Hermione asked, glancing over at Jason with a slight smile on her face. "I saw him on the news; always thought he was rather funny, to be honest."

Jason chuckled as well as they walked into the cave. "Tell me about it," he said, as they kept walking. "It's too bad they all couldn't have been as easy as him; that Cyclops monster, for example…"

He shuddered slightly at the memory. "Dragonzord versus Dragonzord? _Not _one of the fights I really enjoyed; I was always worried we were going to hit the real one by mistake…"

Ron opened his mouth to ask something, but before he could finish his sentence, they had rounded a corner and found themselves staring at an object on a pedestal in front of them. It was a large white crystal, much like the four Guardian Gems in shape and form, but unlike them, the gem simply glowed a brilliant white, and it had small shapes carved onto it.

"What the…?" Ron said, after the Guardians and Jason had spent a few minutes staring at it in confusion. "What _is _that?"

"Well…" Jason commented, as he walked towards the pedestal and started to walk around it, staring at the gem all the time. "I might be wrong, but it kinda reminds me of the Zeo crystals… Maybe Zordon made it from the excess energy in the crystals?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Jason reached over, picked the gem up, opened his mouth to say something…

And suddenly a large gold-armoured monkey-like creature with black wings, blue skin and red eyes appeared at the cave entrances, brandishing a sword and pointing it at Jason and the Guardians a manner that indicated he was definitely interested in stabbing them with it.

"Give me that Gem, and I shall spare your lives!" the creature roared, brandishing a sword as he glared at Jason.

"_Goldar_?" Jason cried, looking at his old foe in shock. "But… but you died in the Countdown!"

Goldar just laughed as he pointed his sword at Jason. "You truly thought that would be enough to end me, Red Ranger?" he asked mockingly, apparently not interested in the Guardians; Jason consumed all his attention now.

Jason just glared back at his old foe as he placed the gem back on the pedestal and reached behind his back. "Well, I'll make you wish you'd never bothered to come back!" he yelled, as he pulled his original morpher from behind his back. "It's Morphin' Time! Tyranno-"

Before Jason could finish his sentence, Goldar fired a burst of flaming red energy from his sword at the former Red Ranger, sending Jason flying back into the cave wall behind him with such force that a loud crack was heard from the impact. As Jason slumped to the ground, the four Guardians could only watch in horror as his head lolled over to one side, evidently damaged by the impact.

* * *

"NO!" Harry yelled, as he and the others spun around to glare at Goldar; Harry's access to news about the Power Rangers had been limited when he was growing up (The Dursleys evidently hadn't wanted him getting any ideas about things that weren't 'normal'), but he remembered enough of the old news articles about the Power Rangers to know that Goldar was bad news. If they didn't put him down _now_, who knew what would happen…

Besides, this guy had already made him break his vow to avoid any more deaths.

Now _he _would find himself crossing the proverbial rubicon.

"Everyone, get him!" Harry cried, as the four Guardians pulled out their wands and pointed them at their Gems. "Hogwarts Guardians, _attivare_!"

Instantly, the four of them had transformed and were rushing at Goldar, their blades drawn as they forced Goldar out onto the mountainside, where they'd at least have more room to manoeuvre.

* * *

Inside the cave, as battle waged outside, Jason slowly blinked his eyes open, trying not to focus on his suddenly inability to feel anything below his neck, and found himself staring at a tall figure dressed in white, looking at him with an apologetic expression on her face.

"D… Dimitria?"


	8. The White Dragon Guardian

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Dimitria nodded solemnly as she looked at Jason's fallen form.

"Yes, Jason; it is I," she said, as she reached down and picked up the white gem that he'd been examining only moments ago; he had placed it back on the pedestal as soon as Goldar had arrived at the cave entrance. "I apologise for this; I honestly was not expecting Lord Voldemort- the adversary of this team of Rangers- to have the necessary power to resurrect Goldar to send after you."

Jason tried to smile reassuringly at her through the pain.

"Eh… nobody's fault…" he said, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. "I just… wish that… this hadn't… been part… of the deal…"

Dimitria shook her head regretfully as she stared at Jason.

"No, Jason," she informed him. "It does not have to be this way."

Crouching down beside the former Red Ranger, Dimitria took one of his hands, and placed the white gem in his palm, closing it over his fist as she looked at him beseechingly.

"If you accept this," she said, looking him in the eyes as she spoke, "not only shall you be healed, but you shall once again possess the strengths and abilities of a Power Ranger."

Jason's eyes widened in surprise, and Dimitria smiled.

"Yes, this is a fifth Guardian Gem," Dimitria explained, indicating the figures outside the cave; Jason could just make out the Yellow Guardian (Ron, he vaguely recalled) being thrown off to one side by the attacking Goldar. "It was created by Zordon shortly before he returned to Eltar, after the creation of the Turbo Powers. Using excess energy from the Zeo Crystals, Zordon was able to create this gem, which he then merged with the remains of some of the destroyed Thunderzords to create the power of the White Dragon Guardian Ranger."

Clasping Jason's left hand with her right, her left hand covering the Gem in Jason's right, Dimitria looked him in the eyes as she continued to speak.

"This gem may only be used by a non-wizard, Jason Lee Scott; it was Zordon's way of ensuring that the Hogwart's Guardian Rangers would never forget that they fight for the non-magical world as well as their magical one," she informed him, as he tried desperately to stay awake. "As well as this, it will play a crucial part in the success of the Guardians; they lack experience with the dangers involved in being a Ranger, and shall need the guidance that only you have been judged capable of providing. I can heal you regardless of your choice, but…"

She shrugged. "In the end, the choice as to whether or not you keep the poweris up to you."

As Jason stared at the gem in his hand, white light surrounding it as it pulsed and throbbed with power, he smiled slightly, as though at a fond memory, before looking back at Dimitria.

"Once a Ranger… always a Ranger…" he said, nodding grimly at Dimitria despite the pain in his neck. "I'm in."

Smiling, Dimitria closed Jason's hand over the Gem, and instantly a brilliant white light surrounded his body, knitting the broken bones in his neck back together as he felt the power flow through him once again, power he hadn't felt since the Serpenterra mission with the other eight Red Rangers and the Quantum Ranger (He still wished that they'd been able to figure out a way to at least activate Rocky's Red Ninja Ranger powers for that mission, rather than relying on Eric's Quantum Ranger powers to make up the numbers; nine Red Rangers and an 'other' Ranger wasn't the same as ten Red Rangers in his opinion)…

* * *

Harry couldn't _believe _how difficult it was for him and the other Guardians to hold their own in this fight against Goldar. He'd always thought that wizard duels were far harder than hand-to-hand combat could ever be, but he was quickly learning that it was actually the other way round. The amount of damage that could be sustained in a magic battle may have been greater than what you'd receive in a fist fight, but at least you had a better chance of dodging what the other guy was doing. 

When it came down to hand-to-hand, however, it was far more difficult to dodge the other guy's attacks, particularly since you had to be up-close to the opponent if you were ever going to do any damage yourself. So far he and the other Guardians had all managed to do at least _some _damage to Goldar as they slugged it out, but Goldar was evidently delivering the most punishment; Ron already had an injured left arm from where Goldar's last blow had hit him.

"Put some _effort _into it, Red Ranger!" Goldar yelled tauntingly at Harry, as the Boy Who Lived desperately parried Goldar's latest blow with a sword, only just catching it on instinct; evidently, even the instinctive knowledge of fighting the Guardians gained while they were morphed had its limits. "You honestly think you can defeat Lord Voldemort like _this_?"

"How about now?" a voice said from the cave.

Harry's eyes widened under his helmet.

"_Jason_!" he and Goldar said simultaneously as they spun around, the other Guardians turning to look at the cave as well. Sure enough, Jason stood there, looking harshly at Goldar as he flexed his neck muscles, a slight bruise the only sign of the apparently-fatal wound Goldar had given him earlier.

"I _killed _you!" Goldar yelled at Jason in outrage. "You _cannot _have recovered from that!"

"What, you think you're the only one who can come back with aid from the new guy?" Jason asked, smiling slightly as he raised his right hand, even as he extended his left wrist out in front of him. As Goldar and the Guardians watched, brilliant gold gauntlets materialized around Jason's wrists, as the white gem they'd seen on the pedestal only a few moments ago appeared in Jason's hand, as though out of thin air.

"I just got an upgrade."

* * *

As Goldar's jaw dropped in horror, Jason smiled. 

"Payback time," he said, as he raised the gem to the sky. "White Dragon Guardian Power… _Now_!"

Even as he began to say the final word, Jason was bringing the gem down to the gauntlet on his left wrist, white lightning crackling around his hand as the gem and the gauntlet came ever closer to each other.

As soon as the gem and the gauntlet made contact, a brilliant white light covered Jason, and, when it had faded, he was wearing brilliant white body-armour, the white helmet possessing the faintest trace of horns, much like what you'd expect to see on a dragon. However, the most distinctive thing about the costume was the black armour around the chest, particularly with its gold shoulder-pads; the pattern on the shoulders slightly resembled a dragon's wings. Like the other Guardians, a sword hung from Jason's belt, but unlike the others, the sword actually had a small 'carving' on it; the handle vaguely resembled a head of some kind, although it was hard to make out the animal that was depicted.

"Whoa…" Ron said, smiling under the helmet as Jason and Goldar locked eyes once again; it was evident that, as far as Goldar was concerned, right now the other four Guardians were just minor annoyances.

"You think that shall be sufficient?" Goldar asked, indicating Jason's new costume disdainfully. "The power of a new _White _Ranger? I shall vanquish you as easily as I have always done!"

"Oh, you mean like when Zedd tried to drain the other's powers with the new magic candles?" Jason asked, smiling casually. "As I recall, I kicked your ass then when I was on my own; the only time you _ever _came close to killing me was when you nicked my morpher back when the Green Ranger appeared. Why should now be any different?"

"_Enough_!" Goldar roared, as he raised his sword, fired another burst of red energy at Jason…

Only to have Jason draw his new sword and knocked the blast back at Goldar, who was sent staggering back by the force of his own energy beam as he tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, briefly out cold.

"Still got it," Jason chuckled to himself as he studied his sword…

Then his eyes widened slightly under his helmet as he studied the sword.

He _knew _that style of blade from somewhere…

"Tommy?" a new voice said. "Is that you?"

"What the?" Hermione said in confusion, as she turned to look at Jason. "Did your sword just… _talk_?"

"_Saba_!" Jason cried in surprise, the reason for the sword's familiarity striking him as he spun the sword in his hand around so he was looking at the 'carving' on the end. Looking at the figure on the end of his sword, he could easily see that, although some details had changed to make it more dragonlike (A longer snout and more horn-like ears), it was still the same sword that had once been used by Tommy Oliver in battle and to summon the Tigerzord, before the power coins were destroyed and Tommy had upgraded to the Red Zeo powers.

"Jason?" the sword said, looking at the new White Guardian in what could be called confusion on a human face. "What are you doing here; I believed you had retired for the Teen Peace Conference?"

"Long story, Saba," Jason said, smiling slightly at the sight of the sword. It may have belonged to Tommy, but somehow, even this rather bizarre link to his time as the Red Ranger was a welcome sight right now. "Net result is, I've got new powers, there's a new team of Rangers, and you seem to have come along in the package with my White Ranger abilities."

"I see," Saba said, as he looked around at the other four Guardians. "An intriguing group, I see; I look forward to learning more about you all."

"Uh… same here?" Ginny said, uncertain whether she should say something like that to a sword. After all, in all her life the only talking inanimate object she'd encountered (Baring the obvious exceptions of photographs and paintings) had been the Sorting Hat, and that hardly counted as she'd only ever heard it speak during the Sorting ceremony, so it was practically a 'fixture' of the school. Spending time with a talking weapon might get a _bit _confusing…

"_Enough_!" Goldar's voice roared from behind the Rangers, prompting them to turn back and face their old/new foe once again, the other Guardians drawing their swords as Jason brandished Saba before him. "This battle is about to take a turn for the worst as far as you five are concerned!"

He raised his head, spread his arms…

And suddenly, he was at least ten stories tall and glaring down at them with a satisfied grin on his face as a mass of grey-skinned creatures with large Zs on their chests appeared around him.

"What the…?" Harry said, looking up at Goldar in confusion. "How'd Voldemort do _that_? Last time he pulled this stunt he was actually_ there _when he cast the spell!"

"And what are _those _things?" Ron yelled, indicating the new arrivals in shock.

Jason just shrugged. "The villains have always been able to make monsters grow in the past without being there themselves; the Machine Empire is the only exception to that rule that I can recall at the moment," he said, as he looked up at Goldar and scanned the new arrivals. "The foot soldiers are Zedd's old Putties; dangerous, but all you really need to do is hit the Z and they're out of it. I'll handle them; you've better get your Zords here, and fast. If Goldar isn't stopped soon, he could cause some serious damage."

"Right," Harry said, nodding as he and the other Guardians aimed their wands at their Gems.

"Guardian Zord Power, _attivare_!" they cried. As the Zords began to run towards them, Jason, standing with Saba raised as he faced the Putties, spared a brief glance for the new arrivals, and smiled slightly at the sight. It may be only four Zords, rather than the more usual five that formed the Megazords he'd known as a Ranger, but it still did his heart good to see Zords springing into action against evil once again, even if _his _Zord wasn't amongst them…

Then the other four Guardians leapt up towards their Zords, and Jason, Saba raised, turned his head back to look at the Putties, another smile spreading across his face.

After the Cogs he'd faced as the Gold Ranger, these guys should be a piece of cake…

As Jason lunged towards the Putties, Saba flashing in his hand, he could only hope that he hadn't forgotten the kind of force that needed applied to the Z to knock it out; he recalled quite a few occasions when Billy and Kimberly in particular hadn't managed to hit it hard enough….

* * *

Up in the Zords, Harry chuckled slightly as he examined the Lion's controls, his fingers already itching in anticipation of the battle they were about to have. The Zords may still be new, but it would still be quite an experience to actually tackle something in these things… 

"Guys, bring 'em together!" he yelled over the communication link. Even as the command was issued, the Zords were all leaping into the air, the Snake and Eagle straightening out to form arms, the Badger extending to form legs as the Lion landed in the middle of the three other Zords. As Harry found himself in the main control room, the other three Guardians sitting around him, he smiled grimly as he stared at Goldar.

"Try this on for size, Goldar," he said, as he shifted the Guardian Megazord into a combat stance. "Let's go, guys!"

They lunged forward, one fist outstretched, ready to punch Goldar in the chest…

And he just grabbed it and threw the Zord over his shoulder, sending it crashed into the ground behind it.

"You'll have to do better than that, Power­_less _Rangers!" the armoured titan yelled, as the Guardian Megazord struggled to its feet. "I fought the original Rangers for three years and went up against over _half_ of the Megazords they possessed; compared to them, you four are pathetic!"

As the Guardian Megazord righted itself, Harry just glared angrily at Goldar from the control room.

"We may be new to this game, but we're not letting you win this, Goldar!" he yelled, as he glanced back at Hermione. "Try the Boomerang; we need to buy some time!"

"Right!" Hermione said, nodding as she turned back to her controls. "Ravenclaw Boomerang, _attivare_!" As the Guardians watched, the blue boomerang-shaped wing flew towards Goldar, spinning so rapidly it almost seemed to be a circle…

And then Goldar knocked it away with a swing of his sword, leaving the Guardians staring after it in horror.

"Aw, no…" Ron whispered to himself as Goldar turned back to look at them.

This was bad.

This was very, _very _bad…

* * *

Down on the ground, as Jason hacked his way through the surrounding Putties, Saba clutched in his right hand, he couldn't stop himself from letting out a brief wild whoop of joy, Putties exploding right and left as he hit the Zs and sent them flying apart… 

All too soon, he was the only thing left standing on the field of battle, and was looking up as Goldar smashed and struck out at the Guardian Megazord.

"Aw, crap…" he muttered, as he glanced at Saba. "Got anything you can use to help me?"

"Well, maybe…" Saba began, looking at Jason with an expression that could be called uncertainty in its eyes. "I _do _think that I can sense something that I was unaware of the last time Tommy used me…"

"A Zord?" Jason asked, looking at the sword eagerly.

"Possibly," Saba admitted, as it looked back at the new Guardian Ranger. "There seems only one way we shall ever know for sure; simply raise me and attempt to summon the Zord in question. I shall do what I can."

"Right," Jason said, as he raised the sword to the sky, praying that this would work; Goldar looked like he was about to tear a chunk of something off the Megazord at this rate. Crossing his fingers, he raised his eyes to look at Saba, and called out the words that he hoped would prove to be the correct ones.

"White Dragon Guardian Zord power, _now_!"

No sooner had the words left his lips than a large chunk of the mountain beside them exploded outwards, as a large, white-and-gold lizard-like head burst from the mountain, followed closely by a long, almost serpent-like body that Jason recognized at once. The main body had two long, elegant gold wings that he didn't recognise from the last time he'd seen it, and it was now white and red where it had once been red and green, but other than that, it was just the same.

_The Red Dragon Thunderzord?_ Jason thought to himself, as the zord flew through the air. _I know Dimitria said Zordon combined Zeo Crystal energies with the Thunderzords, but to _this _extent_?

Shrugging it off, he leapt into the air and, with no apparent transition between the two, landed in the cockpit of the zord, smiling as he studied the familiar surroundings. It wasn't quite the same as the Red Dragon's cockpit had been- there was now a slot that was presumably intended for Saba and there were extra controls on the panel, among other things- but all the essential details were still there.

Chuckling, Jason turned his attention to the window in front of him, and grinned under the helmet as Goldar continued to attack the Guardian Megazord, oblivious to his presence.

"Hey, Goldar!" Jason yelled, causing the gold-armoured monkey-like warrior to turn and look at him in horror. "Try _this _on for size!"

Before Goldar could react, Jason had hit his foe with a burst of fire from his new zord's mouth, smiling as Goldar staggered back, screaming in agony. Before his old foe had even had a chance to recover, Jason had triggered his zord's transformation to warrior mode, and smiled as he watched the transformation unfold on the projection in the control room. The nostalgic part of him was glad to see that it was all the same as his original Dragon-to-Warrior transformation; the neck and tail folded upwards into legs, the four dragon legs combined into two arms, the detached dragon head transformed into the head, then the head and chest united with the body. The only difference was with the wings on its back; according to what Jason could see on the screen, the wings could either be used for flight, or fold around the Dragon's chest to give it extra armour in single combat. It reminded him slightly of what he'd seen of Cole's Isis Megazord from the Wild Force days, except that there were no other Zords involved…

* * *

AN: For future reference, when I refer to the White Dragon, Jason's zord is in its dragon mode; when it's the Dragon Warrior, it's in warrior mode

* * *

"NO!" Goldar screamed as he stared at the powerful white zord before him. "This cannot be!" 

"Trust me, Goldar; it's as real as everything else," Jason chuckled, as the Dragon Warrior raised its staff, one end pointing threateningly at Goldar. "Care for me to prove it?"

Roaring in rage, Goldar charged at the Dragon Warrior, his sword raised, but the staff struck him before the two figures could meet, its greater length putting it at a distinct advantage in the fight. Roaring, Goldar tried to attack again, but the Dragon Warrior parried every one of Goldar's blows with the staff.

"_Hey, Jason_!" a voice suddenly called over the zord's speakers. "_Leave _something _for us, will you_?"

"Oh, sorry; almost forget about you guys," Jason said, smiling as he saw the Guardian Megazord appear behind Goldar, a large blue sword in its hands. Even as Jason watched, the sword crackled with powerful gold lightning as it thrust down towards Goldar, striking him in one wing even as he began to turn to see what was behind him.

Screaming in agony, Goldar looked between the two massive Zords, and then seemed to come to a decision.

"Goodbye, Rangers!" he yelled mockingly at them. "You may have won this round, but I swear to you; I shall return!"

Then, as the Rangers watched, Goldar thumped his chest once with a clenched fist and vanished in a burst of gold flame-like energy.

Jason sighed. He should have expected that, of course- Goldar _always _bailed out when the going got tough- but he'd hoped to get a bit more damage in first. After all, his only regret about the Countdown- after Zordon's death, of course- was that he never got the chance to finish things with Goldar. The gold-armoured warrior may have focused more on Tommy in the last few months before Jason's departure to the Teen Peace Conference, but Goldar and Jason had been bitter adversaries ever since Jason had managed to hold Goldar off in the Dark Dimension, alone and unnmorphed, shortly after Tommy had first become the Green Ranger, and even _before _then they'd had a distinct grudge against each other…

Still, Jason couldn't complain. He was back in action, doing what he loved, fighting for what he believed in, and, best of all, he _finally _had a chance to settle things with Goldar once and for all.


	9. Setting the Stage

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

A few moments later, the five Guardians were standing on the ground, their costumes powered down and their respective Zords already flying, running and slithering towards their hiding places as their owners began to talk.

"Wow…" Ron said, half to himself and half to everyone else as he stared after the rapidly fading form of the White Dragon Guardian Zord, before turning to look at Jason incredulously. "And that thing's _yours_?"

"Yep," Jason said, looking in the direction of the rapidly fading zord with a nostalgic smile on his face. "I had a similar one back when I was the Red Ranger; it was the second one that I controlled."

He shrugged offhandedly, a small smile on his face as he turned to face the other Guardians. "The colour scheme's a bit different from that zord, of course, but it's still nice to see the thing again."

"I'll bet," Harry said, chuckling slightly as he looked after the zord before turning back to look at Jason. "Um… are you OK? I mean, that 'Goldar' guy _did _hit you pretty hard…"

"No, I'm fine now," Jason chuckled slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "After I 'officially' accepted its powers, the White Gem healed me up pretty good. I'll be a bit stiff for a few days, but give me a bit of time back in action and I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Uh… 'back in action'?" Hermione said, looking at Jason in surprise. "Sorry if I'm jumping to conclusions, but does that mean you're joining us on a more… _permanent_ basis? No offence, but you're not exactly…"

"A wizard?" Jason said, the grin falling from his face as he assumed a more serious expression. "I know I'm not quite in the same league as the rest of you, but from what I learned when I was entrusted with this Gem- I'll explain that in more detail later- the reason for the Gem choosing me is simple; it ensures that you four don't forget that the wizarding world isn't the only one at stake in this war you've ended up in.

"Besides," he added, as he indicated the cave where he had so recently been nearly killed, "I was watching you tackle Goldar from in there. You've got spirit, but unless you learn a bit more about how to defend yourselves in a one-on-one situation, you're not as good as you could be. Not only could I train you, but I'm experienced at being a Ranger; I could probably provide an insight into the kind of dangers you'll be facing that you wouldn't have otherwise."

He turned to look at Harry, one eyebrow raised in an enquiring, curious manner. "You're the Red Ranger here; the choice is yours."

As the two Rangers looked at each other for a moment, Jason briefly found himself thinking of how apt, in its way, this situation was; a perfect balance of past and present.

_The two ends of the chain in the history of the Red Rangers of Earth_… Jason mused to himself.

On one side stood Jason himself- the original Red Ranger, hardened by the blows that life had dealt to him since the last time he used his powers, but nevertheless ready and willing to go back into action, to protect the world that he had been born into from a danger that no other force could match…

On the other side stood the latest Red Ranger, his three fellow Rangers surrounding him, all four of them having already forged a bond that would aid them in fighting the darkness that dwelt in the hearts of the adversary of any team of Power Rangers, eager to protect the innocent and vanquish the evil that threatened humanity once again, their inexperience more than made up for by their strong desire to do the right thing…

_So different, and yet so identical_…

Then the moment ended when Harry smiled, nodded, and held out one hand to shake Jason's.

"Welcome to the Hogwarts Guardians, Jason Lee Scott," the young wizard said, with a formality that suited the moment.

Smiling gratefully, Jason took the hand and shook it.

"Glad to be here, Harry Potter," he replied, before glancing around the group and smiling slightly. "You guys wouldn't happen to have some kind of teleporting ability, would you? It's just that I'd rather like to get back to my car so we can talk a bit more about this…"

"Because a car's a bit more private than out here where anyone might hear us, huh?" Ginny said, smiling reassuringly at Jason. "Just hold onto my arm, focus on your car, and we'll have you there in a flash, OK?"

Nodding briefly, Jason reached over and grabbed the latest Green Ranger's wrist. A part of him made a mental note to call Tommy about this- for the first time ever, as far as Jason could recall, there was a _female _Green Ranger- but then Harry reached over to take Ginny's hand and Jason brought his mind back to his car. There was a brief sensation of being sucked down some kind of straw, and then Jason found himself standing beside his red Range Rover, still on the deserted mountain road where he'd left it before going to meet Harry and the others, the other four standing around him and looking at each other briefly before turning to look at the car.

"Whoa…" Ron said, a slight gleam in his eyes as he studied the machine. "Nice car, Jason."

"Thanks," Jason said, shrugging casually as he reached into his pocket and hit the button on his keys that would open the car doors. "Had to save for a couple of years to get this, but I always knew it would come in handy some time; motorbikes can only take you so far."

Opening the driver's door of the car, he climbed in and inserted the key into the ignition. The other four had soon entered the car as well, Ron, Hermione and Ginny settling down in the back seat while Harry chose the passenger seat beside Jason.

"So, any preferences as to where we go now?" Jason asked Harry, his hand on the key and ready to turn it.

"Well, somewhere where I can safely call the Eagle zord would be a good place to start," Hermione put in from the back of the car. "Dimitria said that she'd see about getting our belongings over to us via the zord- she got the impression we'd be spending a lot of time over here- and with this car to keep our trunks in, we should be well-prepared for our search for the horcruxes, wherever we have to go."

"The hor-what?" Jason asked, turning back to look at Hermione inquiringly. "What are you talking about?"

"We'll explain while you're driving," Harry said, glancing over at Jason.

"Oh, and while we're on the move, are there any restaurants around here?" Ron put in, prompting Harry, Ginny and Hermione to roll their eyes slightly as Jason chuckled at the sight; evidently, the others were well aware of Ron's appetite.

"Sure," Jason said, as he turned the engine on and began to drive down the road. "I need to stop there anyway; I have to make a couple of calls back home."

* * *

As his mobile rang just as he was finishing the final class of the day, Rocky was only slightly surprised to note that he didn't recognise the phone number on it. Given that he had the mobile and phone numbers of every past Ranger of his acquaintance in his phonebook- the only people who could know so _exactly _when his classes ended, as they sometimes came to help him and Jason out with a class- the caller's identity was a mystery, but Rocky had a feeling he knew who it would turn out to be…

After all, who else was so conservative when it came to his mobile phone?

Tapping the 'Accept Call' button, Rocky raised the phone to his ear and smiled.

"Jason?" he asked casually.

"_Got it in one_," his business partner replied. "_What gave me away_?"

"You called at the _exact_ moment my last class finished; only… the teachers… know my schedule that well," Rocky explained, as he sat down on a chair to continue speaking; it was unlikely there was anyone here, but students had been known to hang back sometimes, and he didn't want to risk anyone hearing something that would link him to the Power Rangers. He was prepared to bet that Jason would do something similar; if he was using a public phone, he'd most likely want to avoid attracting attention just as much. "Thought it might have been one of the others, but when I didn't recognise the number, I instantly knew it was you."

He chuckled slightly. "After all, you _never _use your mobile unless it's an emergency…"

"_You know me too well, Rocky_," Jason sighed in an exaggerated manner before his voice became more serious. "_Anyway, to business; the new team's acquired the power source that I was sent to help them track down, but it turns out that I'll be needing to stay with them for longer than I thought_."

"What?" Rocky said, sitting up slightly in surprise, confusion evident on his face. "Did something happen?"

"_Well, let me put it this way_," Jason said, sounding like he was smiling brightly at the other end of the line. "_You _might _want to paint one of the classrooms white before I get back_."

Rocky's eyes widened slightly.

It had long been an unspoken agreement between Jason and Rocky, when they had opened the dojo and set up the various classrooms- a different room for different levels- that there would be at least one room for each of their Ranger colours. With six rooms in the dojo, they had painted three of the rooms red, two rooms blue, and one room was predominately black with some flecks of gold in it (They commonly used the last room for the beginning students).

If Jason wanted one room painted _white_…

"You're back in the game?" Rocky said, already knowing that the answer would be yes; Jason wouldn't joke about something like this. "And in Tommy's old colour?"

"_I've even got his old assistant_," Jason chuckled over the phone (Rocky was fairly sure that referred to Saba, but he made a mental note to ask Jason for confirmation the next time they saw each other). "_Oh, and the backup looks like our namesake; just a few cosmetic changes_."

"Really?" Rocky said, getting more interested by the minute; the Ape Ninjazord, the Red Shogunzord and Super Zeo Zord III had all been good in a fight on their own, of course, but somehow the Red Dragon Thunderzord had always had a certain something about it that none of those other zords could properly capture. Of course, it was probably just the fact that it transformed on its own- it had comforted him somewhat to know that he had an alternative besides just knocking his opponent about if it ever came down to him and a giant-size monster- but nevertheless, he'd always felt as though there was something about the Red Dragon that was more uniquely _him_, almost more than the Ape had been.

"_Anyway_," Jason said, bringing his business partner back to reality, "_sorry I'll be missing classes for a while; apparently these guys need to find some artefacts scattered around the place to defeat the new face, so we need to find them before we can finish things. Any ideas who you'll get to cover for me until I can get back_?"

"Actually, I was thinking of seeing if Adam would be interested," Rocky replied. Thankfully, although he and his childhood friend had taken different paths in life- Rocky opening the dojo with Jason while Adam went into the movie stuntman industry- they still remained close, although Rocky mainly attributed this to the fact that Adam's wife Tanya still worked in Angel Grove as a music teacher. "You know, his last movie finished recently and he's having trouble finding work; I might as well see if he'd be interested in helping out on a more long-term basis."

"_Sounds good_," Jason agreed over the phone, before pausing briefly and sighing before he continued speaking. "_Look, I've got to go; the yellow member of the group's getting hungry and I'm the only one with dollars on me at the moment, so I'm paying for the food until we find a bank_."

"Ah," Rocky said, nodding in understanding; he briefly thought about asking why Jason was the only one with any money, but decided against it. If nothing else, the guy probably should get back to his team so they could do whatever needed to be done; he doubted the new bad guy was going to be all that much more patient than Zedd used to be.

"Well… good luck," he said, after a moment's pause. "And remember what we learned; _anything _is possible."

"_Yeah, I know_," Jason said. "_I'll see you soon, hopefully; let the others know what's happened, OK_?"

Then Jason hung up, leaving Rocky to stare at the phone and hope that his friend would be all right.

* * *

Far away, in another part of the world, in a dark chamber shunned by all that was good, whether it be wizard or muggle, a figure in a long dark robe, clutching a large gold staff in one hand, stared at the figure kneeling before him, a critical expression in his eyes.

"You have failed me once already, Draco Malfoy," Lord Voldemort said, as the son of the man he would once have called his most loyal Death Eater knelt before him, trembling in fear. "You vowed that you would kill Albus Dumbledore, and you failed… you promised to eliminate Harry Potter as well, and you again failed to deliver…"

"My Lord, I-" Malfoy began.

"SILENCE!" Voldemort roared, as he pointed the staff towards Malfoy and fired a burst of energy from one end, striking the ground near Malfoy and causing him to flinch.

"In most cases," Voldemort said, leaning back into his seat as he glared at Malfoy, "this behaviour would merit a quick death."

He sighed slightly. "However, with… recent events… I have decided that I shall be more… lenient… towards you."

As Malfoy looked up in confusion, Voldemort reached into the pocket of his robe with one hand and pulled something out which Malfoy couldn't see.

"Tell me, are you aware of recent events regarding these so-called 'Hogwarts Guardians'?" he asked, looking curiously at Malfoy.

"Y-yes…" Malfoy said, nodding uncertainly. "I heard that… they defended the school… when you attacked that _fool's _funeral…"

Voldemort held up a hand and Malfoy stopped speaking.

"Anyway," Voldemort explained, as he looked at the hand in which he held the mysterious object, "recent events have led me to realise that I am… no longer as secure as I might be. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that I require… extra… assistance, of a sort only you can provide for me."

As Malfoy looked up eagerly at that comment, the smile fell as Voldemort looked at him harshly.

"Do _not _delude yourself into thinking this excuses your past actions; I simply must… overlook them right now," he explained, glaring harshly at Malfoy. "Like the Guardians themselves, you are young and in good physical condition, making you the only candidate capable of holding this; my other Death Eaters are past the period of physical maturity for the use of this artefact."

Malfoy opened his mouth to ask a question, but he instantly stopped himself as Voldemort glared briefly at him.

"_If _you wish to know what this is, I shall tell you," he replied, glaring harshly at the ex-Slytherin as he leaned back in his throne and spoke. "In my confrontation with the 'Guardians' at Hogwarts, I took the opportunity to take a brief analysis of their respective power sources. It has taken even _me_ a while to master the essential details of such a spell- whoever created them must have had some remarkable assistance- but I believe that, after a long period of work, I have created the perfect weapon against the Guardians."

Holding out his hand, Voldemort spread his fingers, exposing the contents of the hand to Malfoy's eager eye.

It was a large stone, easily mistaken for a diamond if one ignored the fact that the colour was black rather than the typical clear of a diamond. However, as Malfoy studied it, he saw a certain sparkle of power from within it… a dark power… a power that would corrupt all who possessed it, but give them power beyond imagination at the same time…

Malfoy didn't know what it was, but he wanted it.

"What… what is it?" he asked, looking up at the Dark Lord in awe.

Voldemort chuckled.

"This, Draco Malfoy, is the Black 'Guardian' Gem, created using a corrupted form of the energies that power the four Gems that give my new foes their power," he said, grinning as he held the Gem out in front of him. "All you need do is touch it, and its power shall be yours."

As Malfoy stared at the Gem in awe, Voldemort smiled slightly.

_Perfect_.

He had chosen well; there was no way on this Earth that the Guardians could prevail against _this _foe…

_Especially not with the little extras I have included_… Voldemort mused thoughtfully to himself, as Malfoy reached out to take the Gem from his master's hand…


	10. The First Monster of Lord Voldemort

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"Th… thank you, my Lord…" Draco Malfoy said, bowing respectfully at Voldemort as he stared at the gleaming black stone on his wrist, the stone that had been forged by the Dark Lord and was now uniquely his. Like the Guardians whose powers had inspired the Gem, the Black Gem was contained in a gauntlet-like bracelet on his right wrist; the only difference, although he could hardly have known it, was that this gauntlet was a uniform grey colour, much like iron, rather than the more elaborate-looking gold that was used by the five Guardians.

"Wh… when may I use this in battle?" the young Slytherin asked, looking inquiringly back at his master.

"Soon," Voldemort said, nodding thoughtfully at his young follower as he thoughtfully studied the staff he held in his hand. "It is a foolish man who unleashes his strongest forces before trying the easier route, Malfoy. I have… _other _plans that shall be tested against my new foes first."

He chuckled slightly at the thought. It was true that the thought of pitting these so-called 'heroes', who were foolish enough to protect the weak rather than simply allow them to die out and thus help the species grow and develop, against a twisted version of themselves _was_ a tempting idea…

However, he would not use his greatest weapon yet so quickly just because of the irony involved; he would far rather pit them against his latest monster before he hit them with his most powerful warrior. After all, why should he reveal his most powerful soldier to the world when he could just as easily eliminate his foes using less power?

Raising Rita's old staff in one hand, he tightened his grip on it and began to focus his magic, along with his thoughts, along the arm, sending out the signal that would summon the creature he required to create his first original monster.

_Come to me, my servant…_ he said in his mind, the thought echoing through his staff as he stretched out towards his chosen target. _Come to me… and receive power such as you have never known…_

As the form entered his throne room, prompting shivers from all around it, Voldemort chuckled gleefully.

If it wasn't for the fact that it would hardly be a good idea to expose himself to the mudblood public before he was ready to strike at _them_, he would have been particularly eager to see, first-hand, how the 'Hogwarts Guardians' handled _this _problem…

* * *

Back in the diner, having made sure that nobody else could overhear them- so long as they weren't too loud, the typical hustle and bustle of the other customers drowned them out- Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione had just finished filling Jason in on all the details about their struggle against Voldemort.

"So, your opponent is a ruthless dark wizard who actually _mutilated_ his own _soul _to achieve immortality, and he recently found Rita's wand and is using it to create monsters and enhance his own power?" Jason said, looking incredulously at Harry. "And you're going to start looking for various items that he hid these pieces of soul in because you'll be able to kill him once these things have been destroyed?"

"Well… pretty much, yeah," Ron nodded.

Jason sighed slightly as he sat back in his chair and stared at the diner's ceiling, going over the story he had just been told in his mind.

_God, what happened to the guys who just wanted to rule the world_? he wondered to himself. He'd thought that Mesogog sucker Tommy had told him about sounded bad, but _this_? Mesogog may have wanted to totally erase human life from the face of the Earth, but at least he'd never done anything quite _that _horrific to himself…

"So, do you have any ideas how you're going to find those items?" he asked, looking curiously at Hermione. It might have just been basic instinct after working with Billy for so long, but whenever he worked with another Ranger team, Jason instinctively directed questions about something he didn't quite understand to the Blue Ranger.

"Well, we're still working on the specific details," Hermione explained. "Dimitria mentioned to me on our way here that she's working on something that should allow us to track the horcruxes based on their energy signatures, but until it gets here, all we can do is wait, I suppose."

Jason sighed. "So much for taking the easy option…" he said, as he leant back, stretching slightly as he rubbed his eyes before leaning forward once more. "Oh boy… what happened to the good old days when the bad guy just wanted to rule the world? Now they mutilate their own souls and stick the pieces somewhere else to stay alive…"

"Yeah, Rita and Zedd _did _sound like their goals and methods were a lot simpler, from what I've heard of them," Harry added, as he stood up and indicated the door. "We'd better get moving; we should probably get somewhere a bit less public if we want to talk to Dimitria sooner or later."

"Right," Jason said, as he reached into his pocket, pulled out a few dollars' worth of notes, and left them on the table beside the finished food before walking out of the café with the others.

It was only after they were outside the diner that Jason noticed something odd; there weren't any people in the area.

Well, strictly speaking, there were _people_; it was just that they were all heading subtly but rapidly down the street, away from them, as though they were trying to get away from something while simultaneously pretending it wasn't there. Indeed, people from the diner they'd been in earlier were also 'subtly' leaving for the streets now, some even leaving their meals half-finished, as though the departure of the Guardians had been just the signal they needed to get moving.

Now that Jason thought about it, he felt a little on-edge himself, almost like the feeling he used to get when he was in battle and his subconscious alerted him to an attack from behind. He'd just been so focused on finding out more about 'Voldemort'- and what a dumb name _that _was; personally, he thought it sounded like the guy was trying _way _too hard to be scary- that he'd ignored it earlier…

"Uh… do you guys feel that?" Jason asked, glancing over anxiously at the new Rangers.

"Oh, you mean that chill down the back of your spine like someone replaced the thing with ice?" Ginny asked, sounding slightly panicky. "Yeah, I feel it…"

"Same here," Ron added; Harry and Hermione just nodded, as they anxiously scanned their surroundings, their hands already looking eager to hold the wands that they'd concealed in their sleeves.

"So… do we morph?" Ron asked, looking inquiringly at Harry.

Harry shook his head. "We don't know what we're dealing with yet; I'd rather not morph until we know for sure we can't handle the… problem…" he said, his voice trailing off as he stared at something down the street.

Turning to look in the same direction, Jason's eyes widened in horror as he saw what had attracted Harry's attention. It was a large monster, at least around seven feet tall, and apparently dressed in a long black cloak (Although a part of Jason felt that the creature normally _was _the cloak) that concealed its face; all that could be seen was a pair of glowing red eyes. Its hands looked like human bones, but the fingers were far longer, almost claws rather than normal fingers, and blood-red eyes gleamed underneath the cloak. Most disturbing of all, however, was the fact that the creature didn't even seem to be walking; it seemed to be hovering at least a foot off the ground.

"What… is… _that_?" Jason asked, trying to contain the sudden fear that threatened to overtake him; he would _not _allow himself to give in to what he was now convinced was an artificially created state of fear.

If he could handle the self-doubt that Rita and Goldar had managed to cause by using the Crystal of Nightmares, he could handle the fear that this… _thing_ seemed to be creating around itself.

"Looks like Voldemort upgraded a Dementor," Hermione said, swallowing nervously as she stared at the creature coming towards them.

"A what?" Jason asked, trying not to take his eyes off this new monster as it advanced towards them.

"Basically, it's a dark creature that sucks the happiness out of people- typically leaves them as mental wrecks, since they've only got their worst memories left to them- and then drains their souls if it gets close enough," Harry explained, looking over at Jason to make sure the new White Ranger understood what he was saying. "Don't let it get too close to you, whatever you do."

"What happens if it gets too close?" Jason asked, trying to see if there was anybody around them; he didn't want to morph in public by accident.

"If you let it get close enough?" Hermione said, as she and the other Guardians anxiously glanced around before drawing their wands. "Well… it drains your soul and leaves you with nothing; you'd basically be an empty shell with no memory or personality."

"Ah," Jason said, wincing as he thought about what that might mean.

And he'd thought that the Brain Drain machine Gasket had used on Tommy in the Zeo days was an evil device; at least you had a _chance _of coming back from that…

The monster took another step forward, and the silence that had suddenly descended onto the Rangers was at last broken.

"It's clear; let's _do _it!" Hermione yelled, as the four of them aimed their wands forward; they evidently _weren't _morphing yet, although it left Jason wondering what they were going to do instead.

His question was answered when all four of them yelled out "_Expecto Patronum_!" and four silver forms burst from their wands; this must be some kind of… _spell_… they used against these 'Dementors' in their normal state.

As he watched the silver forms charge towards the Dementor-thing, Jason noticed that they actually seemed to have a fixed form; Harry's was a stag, Hermione's an otter, Ron's was (Jason chuckled slightly) a Jack Russell terrier, and Ginny's one looked like a lioness (Although it could be a puma; since it would have been silver either way it was hard to be sure). As he watched, the four figures charged towards their opponent…

And the creature raised a hand created what could best be described as a _tear _in the air. The four creatures hit the tear, ran partway into it, and then disappeared.

"Oh crap…" Ron muttered, his face falling as the creature chuckled slightly at them.

"That's one way of putting it," Harry said, as the creature closed the tear with a simple wave of its hand before it looked back at them, its red eyes flashing. "I _think _we need to power up now."

"I agree," Jason said, nodding grimly, trying to disguise the eagerness he felt at the prospect of going back into action against a common-or-garden monster once again.

True, the fight against Goldar had brought back memories, but he still hadn't fought the guy that often. It was the one-shot monsters like this that had taken up most of his time while he was a Ranger, and he looked forward to seeing if he still had the touch when it came to fighting them.

As he flicked his wrists to summon the gauntlets, he watched as the other Rangers rolled up their sleeves to expose their gems, pointing their wands at the glowing stones as they issued the joint command.

"_Hogwarts Guardians, _attivare!"

Raising one hand above his head, Jason smiled as he felt the White Guardian Gem form in his palm, left arm already extended as he stared grimly at his opponent.

"White Dragon Guardian Power… _now_!"

A brilliant flash of light surrounded them, and then the five Guardian Rangers were standing in the street, the White Dragon Guardian already clasping Saba. The other four Rangers were still holding their wands, but Jason supposed that only made sense; given their lack of formal combat training, they should probably stick with the wands until they'd had a chance to get some lessons.

"_Sectumsempra_!" Harry yelled, raising his wand and striking the 'Dementor' with a thin burst of energy. A long tear appeared in its cloak (Or body; Jason wasn't clear on that) but the creature didn't appear to feel it, and just kept on walking.

"_Incendio_!" Hermione added; the 'Dementor's' cloak began to burn, but it didn't even seem to notice as it kept walking.

"_Bates Mocos_!" Ginny put in; there was a brief burst of green energy from their foe's 'face' that resembled a bat, but nothing else.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!" Ron yelled, desperately waving his wand. Much to Jason's surprise, this spell seemed to have a more promising effect; the creature suddenly flew up several feet and turned upside-down before hurtling back to the ground, where it landed with a loud crash that left several cracks in the street. How a creature that could float could fall, Jason had no idea; maybe the spell disrupted the creature's natural ability to float or something. He briefly wished that Billy were here to explain it, but shook that aside; it wouldn't do him any good to think about his old friend right now.

In any case, any disorientation on the part of their foe was only temporary at best; it was soon back on its feet, and its red eyes flashed as it stared at the five brightly-clad foes that stood before it.

"Try stunning it!" Harry yelled back at his friends, tensed and ready should the creature attempt to make a move. As the four Guardian Rangers reached for their wands, a part of Jason wished he didn't feel so helpless right now; he knew that Saba could fire lasers, but could they really be more effective than magic?

Then the creature roared and began to charge towards them, and Jason shook his head in a self-criticising manner as he raised Saba in his right hand, the sword's head upwards and facing the creature.

Whether or not he could actually contribute anything to this fight, he was still a Power Ranger.

And Rangers _never _gave up…

"_Stupefy_!" his allies yelled, bright red beams launching towards the creature, joined by Saba's eye-beams.

Once again, however, the effect on their foe was non-existent- or, if it _did _exist, it was so small as to be useless. The creature just roared and continued to charge at them, before it struck Harry, sending the Red Ranger flying back, accompanied by a green glow that did _not _bode well to Jason's mind.

* * *

As the blast struck Harry, sending him hurtling back towards the wall, at first Harry was relieved that it didn't seem to be that dangerous. True, his chest hurt where the blast had forced his body backwards at an accelerated rate, and he doubted that would improve when he hit whatever was behind him, but still…

Then he heard the voices start to talk in his head, and his eyes widened in horror.

"_Lily, take Harry and go! It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off_-"

"_Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry_!"

"_Kill the spare_."

"_There's nothing you can do, Harry… nothing… he's gone…_"

"_Severus… please_…"

And then, worst of all, the voices of all those fallen in the battle, the voices of everyone who'd died because of him, resounded through his head, saying the one thing he knew to be true but didn't want to admit…

_You killed us_.

* * *

"NO!" Ginny yelled, as the Red Ranger struck the wall behind him and collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest. Glaring back at their foe, the green-clad warrior woman (She _did _remind Jason strongly of Xena in her anger) drew the sword that hung at her side and began slashing widely at the creature.

The blows weren't very effective- clearly Ginny had no formal training in how to use a weapon like that- but they appeared to be enough; the creature leapt back a few feet, chuckled, and then vanished in a burst of what could only be called 'dark' light.

"What…?" Hermione said, staring at where the creature had just been before looking back at Jason in confusion. "Why did it do that; it had us on the defensive!"

"Typical of these monsters, really," Jason said, sighing slightly at the memories. "Pretty much every time one attacked, it launched an early assault on us, retreated despite having the advantage, and then launched one attack after another. I think Rita and Zedd were trying to wear us down, or maybe hoping we'd just give up in frustration if the monster kept on coming back before we'd figured out a decent defence."

Shrugging nonchalantly, he glanced over at where Harry had hit the wall; the Red Ranger was now curled over in the foetal position, as though he'd injured something in his chest.

"Uh… Harry?" Ron said, looking at his friend anxiously as he walked over to crouch down beside the 'Boy Who Lived'. "Are you OK?"

"No…" Harry muttered to himself, apparently not even registering Ron's presence. "No… don't leave me… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I didn't _mean _to…"

"Harry?" Ginny asked, running over to crouch down beside him, uncertainly reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.

"NO!" Harry yelled, shoving Ginny's arm away. "Don't… you'll just get killed… _everyone _gets killed… leave me alone… just be safe… leave me alone…"

Jason swallowed nervously as he looked at his distant successor; although the specifics had changed, Harry's words were uncannily similar to his thoughts after Rita had tried to drain his team's confidence with the Crystal of Nightmares…

"I think that blast hit him with the full force of the Dementor's powers," he said, glancing around at the others before focusing on Hermione. "Do you guys have somewhere we might be able to take Harry to give him some time to recover?"

"Maybe…" Hermione said, nodding thoughtfully as she pulled out the small circular disc that allowed her to communicate with Dimitria. "We don't have an actual _base _this far from home, but maybe Dimitria can tell us somewhere safe to go…"

Tapping the circle on the side, she looked at the centre as the image of the team's mentor appeared before them. "Uh, Dimitria? Sorry to bother you, but Harry's in a bad state after a confrontation with some kind of upgraded Dementor, and we need somewhere safe to keep him until we can work out _exactly _what's wrong…"

"_I see_…" Dimitria's voice said, before she came to a decision. "_The remains of the old Command Centre should be effective; they are in a distant desert, so it is unlikely that anyone will see you, and, while hardly in working condition, it is intact enough to provide liveable accommodation_."

"Uh… well, that's great, but we don't know-" Ron began uncertainly.

"Where the Command Centre is?" Jason put in, chuckling slightly as the others looked at him. "Don't worry; I spent most of my teenage years there; I'm pretty sure I can remember where the building is, even if I mainly teleported."

"OK…" Hermione said uncertainly, as she looked back at Jason. "Just… make sure you're in contact with all four of us and focus on your destination; we'll try and provide the power."

Nodding, Jason stood close to Harry's shivering body as Ron, Hermione and Ginny place their hands on his shoulders. Reaching down, Ginny grabbed Harry's left hand and placed it on Jason's shoulder, and, before the shaken young wizard could do anything, the five of them had vanished…


	11. The Battles Begin

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

And then reappeared in a room that, while possessing distinctive traces of the Command Centre Jason had used during his time as a Ranger, had changed significantly since then- it had even changed since his time as the second Gold Ranger.

Whereas before the Command Centre- renamed the Power Chamber after Goldar and Rito planted a bomb in the original building, Jason recalled- had possessed a fairly basic floor space, just big enough to accommodate the six Rangers, Alpha and Billy, the new Power Chamber had a floor that looked like it could have accommodated at least two cars, as well as the Rangers themselves. There were now two computer consoles and what looked like a medical bed instead of just one console, and the consoles in question were now all located closer to the wall of the chamber where the tube that had once contained Zordon's time warp (And had been used by Dimitria after his departure, if Jason recalled Tommy's stories about the Turbo era correctly) was located; in the Zeo days, the single console had been further forward.

Then, of course, there was the matter of the consoles being smashed and plants of various kinds growing through cracks in the walls, but Jason was pretty sure they were only there because of the damage caused in Divatox's attack following Dimitria's departure, when the Turbo Powers had been lost and that 'Justin' guy had left the team to stay with his father…

"Mmm…" Hermione said, staring thoughtfully at her surroundings, her mind briefly distracted from Harry at the remarkable technology all around her. "Nice place, really."

Jason shrugged. "It did its job," he said simply, before turning back to Harry, once again crouched on the ground in a foetal position. "Get him onto the table; I'll see if there's any way I can get something working in this place."

As Ginny muttered a spell that Jason didn't quite hear- whatever it was, it picked Harry off the ground and dumped him easily on the table in question- he walked over to the console attached to the table and glanced at Saba, still clutched in his right hand.

"Any chance you could provide some power to get this table working, Saba?" he said, spinning the sword around in his hand so that the head was once more looking at him.

"I believe so," Saba replied, an almost smug smile on its face. "It might be draining on the White Gem- nothing serious; just an inability to morph for a few hours- but I _should _be able to provide the Command Centre computer with enough power to allow us to take a look at the Red Ranger."

Jason nodded in agreement; if it meant helping his 'colour descendant' (For lack of a better term to describe the connection he felt with Harry due to their sharing the same Ranger colour), he'd be prepared to stay out of the battle for the moment.

"What do I do?" he asked.

"Simply place me on the table beside the Red Ranger; I shall form a link with the Command Centre computers to do the rest," Saba replied.

Doing as he was told, Jason placed Saba on the table and then tapped a symbol on his gauntlet, causing him to power down as a bright white light suddenly appeared between Saba and the White Gem before detaching from the gem and merging with the sword.

As the other three Guardians removed their helmets, looking anxiously at their leader and friend, Jason noted the anxious expressions on their faces, and could only hope that this plan would prove successful in working out what was wrong with Harry.

If nothing else, he didn't want to see Ginny Weasley lose the man she loved; he'd already failed to protect _one _Green Ranger when he needed it…

"Interesting…" Saba said, after a moment's pause.

"What?" Ginny asked, looking anxiously at Saba. "You know what's wrong with Harry?"

"Indeed I do, Green Ranger," Saba replied, briefly smiling (As much as a talking sword could) at the red-haired girl before looking back at Jason with a grim expression. "Unfortunately, it is not good news; do you recall the time you and the other original Rangers were attacked by the Crystal of Nightmares?"

"The what?" Ron said, looking in confusion at Jason. "I mean, I know you mentioned it when we were looking for the White Gem, but what _was _it again; you didn't really tell us that much?"

"Essentially, it was a crystal that Goldar was able to use to make me and my teammates lose our self-confidence," Jason explained, trying not to get too frustrated at Ron's ignorance of such a basic part of his story. "When Goldar activated it, it made the five of us suffer very specific nightmares, each one focusing on what we perceived as our personal 'failures' as Rangers; Kimberly- the Pink Ranger- being captured by a monster, Zack- the Black Ranger- being forced to face a spider-based monster on his own when he was terrified of them, that sort thing."

An axious expression crossed the first Red Ranger's face as he looked rapidly over at Saba. "Are you saying the Crystal's _back_?"

"No; simply that whatever has happened to the new Red Ranger shares similarities to what occurred when you and the others were attacked with the Crystal, according to the information remaining in the Command Centre databanks from that period in time," Saba explained. "Based on the data I have been able to gather, his brainwaves show signs of telepathic assault, and the magic that did this seems to have focused more on his negative experiences than anything else, but there is a distinct _difference _between what the Crystal of Nightmares was capable of and whatever triggered this attack. The Crystal was more specific, simply targeting Ranger-related failures and then forcing you to relive them in nightmares; it could not do anything to you while you were still conscious, as your minds would reject the illusions it was attempting to create. This assault is very general, looking at the Red Ranger's 'failures' throughout his _entire _life rather than just his life since he acquired his Ranger powers, and it appears to be stronger than the Crystal, although I cannot explain exactly how this is possible."

Ginny swallowed anxiously as she looked at Harry, pausing for a moment before she finally voiced the thoughts in her mind.

"He's… he's still experiencing the memory of his failures, isn't he?" she asked, looking anxiously at Saba before turning to face Jason. "You… you said that the Crystal just attack you and your friends with _nightmares _and left it at that, but if this is _stronger_… that's not the case with Harry, is it?"

She looked at the young man she loved with tears welling up in her eyes. "He's _still _seeing them even though he's awake, right?"

"Indeed," Saba sighed, as he looked sadly- as much as a sword could express emotion- in Ginny's direction. "And I regret to inform you that I cannot offer any suggestions as to how to stop the spell that triggered this attack, short of defeating the source of the problem."

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Wait a minute; are you saying that we've got to somehow stop that… _Uber-Dementor_?" she asked, staring at Saba incredulously. "But we already tried that; patronuses just don't _work_ against it, and that's the _only _thing that can even come _close _to hurting a Dementor!"

"Well, we have to try _something_!" Ginny said, looking urgently at the Blue Ranger. "We can't just leave Harry like… like _that_!"

"The theory works, you have to admit," Jason put in, looking over at Hermione. "I mean, when my friends and I were affected by the Crystal of Nightmares, it took the destruction of the Crystal to break us out of our lack of self-confidence problem; the same thing should apply in this case."

"Jason, there is a _distinct _difference between shattering a _crystal_ and stopping some kind of upgraded _Dementor_!" Hermione said, turning to glare at the White Ranger. "How are we meant to do _anything _to something that powerful? We don't even know where to _begin_, for crying out loud!"

Jason just looked at Hermione, trying to work out what he should say to her to try and convince her to keep going.

Eventually, however, he knew there was only one thing to say.

"One of the first rules of being a Ranger, Hermione," he said, as he looked at her, a fixed expression in his eyes. "Even when you've lost your powers… even when the bad guys have taken control of your Zords… hell, even when all you've got is yourself, up against the most powerful foe you've ever faced without even a morpher to make the fight that bit more evenly matched… you _never _give up."

Hermione seemed about to protest, but then she looked at Harry as he lay on the bed, twitching slightly as images passed through his mind, muttering something about "Don't leave me… I'm sorry… please…", and she knew what she had to do.

Despite the odds, they had to keep trying.

For _Harry's _sake, if for no other reason, they _had _to stop the Uber-Dementor as soon as possible.

"OK…" she said, swallowing as she looked over at the two Weasleys. "We have to go."

"You'll stay with Harry?" Ginny asked, looking anxiously at Jason.

"Of course," the former Red Ranger replied, looking sympathetically at the young man who now held his colour before looking back at Ginny. "Just… hurry, OK?"

Ginny nodded resolutely as she, Ron and Hermione reattached their helmets, lowered their heads in an almost solemn manner, and then apparated away.

Looking over at the shaking form of Harry, now begging for someone called 'Sirius' to come back to him, Jason wished that there was some safer way for them to stop what was happening beyond going up against a super-powerful monster.

But, right now, defeating the monster was the only plan they had that might work.

Jason nearly felt like cursing. Of all the times to be _without _Billy Cranston…

Well, since the original Blue Ranger wasn't here, he'd just have to see what he could do without him.

"Saba?" he asked, as he glanced at the screen that had once served as the Viewing Screen for the Power Chamber. "Is there any way you can divert enough power to get that working again? I'd like to at least keep an eye on how the fight turns out."

* * *

As Ginny found herself once more standing in the town where the five of them had recently been eating lunch, she couldn't stop a part of herself from praying that the monster would have already moved on and they'd need to come up with a better strategy… 

But no; the creature was standing there, a few feet down the street from her brother and her friend, advancing towards a young woman who seemed to be an emotional wreck already.

Ginny didn't even stop to think of something better. Screaming in rage at the creature who had left the man she loved a shaking wreck, she drew her sword and lunged towards the Uber-Dementor, screaming in rage as she struck the creature in the back with her new weapon. The sheer force of the blow sent the creature staggering forwards, briefly looking like it was going to be knocked off-balance, but it quickly regained its footing, spinning around to glare at its new foe as Ginny clenched her blade and stared at the thing that was, even now, tormenting the man she loved…

"You want to fight somebody?" she growled, flexing her fingers in preparation as she clutched the sword. "Then fight _me_, you _bastard_!"

The Uber-Dementor didn't even bother to reply; it just lashed out at Ginny with a swipe of its bone-like claws, leaving Ginny to desperately parry the blow with her sword.

As his sister staggered back slightly from the force of the blow, Ron leapt forward, lashing out at the Uber-Dementor with his own blade, sending his foe spinning back as Hermione lunged forward with her own weapon, although her attempt to impale the Dementor only resulted in her tearing off a part of its 'cloak'.

Looking as though it would be roaring in rage if it had a voice to roar with, the Uber-Dementor raised one hand in a sweeping blow that sent the Blue Ranger flying back, her weapon still impaled in the nearby wall with a piece of the Uber-Dementor's cloak there as well.

Ginny leapt to catch her friend before Hermione could hit the wall- at that speed a broken neck was almost a certainty if she'd hit the wall in question- while Ron raised his wand and yelled out "_Incendio_!" The attack was only a qualified success; the Uber-Dementor's cloak did indeed catch fire, but the creature didn't seem to be that bothered about it.

As the flames vanished from the Uber-Dementor's cloak, and the powerful monster turned to confront the Yellow Ranger, Ron could only think of one thing to say.

"Nuts."

* * *

"_Damnit_!" Jason muttered to himself, thumping his hand in frustration against the wall as he stared at the battle before him. Honestly, if this was how Billy had felt during the Zeo period he was amazed the former Blue Ranger had managed to last this long without storming out of the Command Centre for good in a fit of rage at the universe for handing him the short straw… 

Looking back at the still-twitching body of Harry, Jason sighed in frustration as he turned his attention to Saba. "Once and for all, are you _sure _you don't have enough power to spare to let me morph?"

"Not for another few hours at least, Jason," Saba replied, regret evident on his face. "In any case, what could you do against such an opponent? I doubt even _I _can do any kind of damage to it, and the Guardian Rangers themselves have admitted that the creature seems too strong for the conventional means they use to defeat its kind…"

_And I still have _no_ idea how to get Harry back into shape_… Jason mused to himself, glancing over once again at the unconscious form of the new Red Ranger. _There's got to be _something _I can do_…

Then it hit him.

Even if he couldn't _help _Harry recover using the all-but-destroyed Command Centre, and his own Guardian Ranger powers were unavailable to help the other Guardians in the fight, he _did _have another option available to him.

It wasn't the most _effective _plan he'd ever had in his time as a Ranger, of course, but he was still pretty sure it would work.

"Saba?" he asked, glancing over at the sword as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a gold coin with the symbol of a Tyrannasaurus Rex on it. "Is there any chance you could use this to help set up a… well, some kind of link between Harry and me?"

"Your original Power Coin?" Saba asked, staring at the Coin in surprise. "But if you have that, why-"

"Aren't I using it right now?" Jason asked, a small smile on his face as he indicated the viewscreen behind him. "Simple; if I went up against _that _thing with _these _powers, I'd be lucky to last any time. My original powers weren't intended to cope with something from Voldemort's type of magic; laser blasts and the Power Sword are all well and good, but I wouldn't want to use them against that sucker there unless I was sure there was no other choice."

For a moment, a nostalgic expression crossed Jason's face as he raised the coin to his face, his finger tracing the Tyrannosaurus head that was etched into the gold surface, but then he sighed, shook his head, and turned back to look at Saba. "Anyway, what I want to know is, is there any way we could use this coin to create a… link of some sort… between me and Harry? You know, so I can get past the hallucinations and communicate with _him_ directly?"

Saba seemed about to reply, but then stopped as though it was giving the matter more thought until it finally 'nodded' slightly- at least, the 'head' on the end of the sword moved slightly up and down.

"It is _possible_…" the sword admitted, as it looked at Jason in a cautionary manner. "However, you should note that this is more than slightly dangerous; even assuming I can make contact, you run a good chance of becoming trapped in Harry's hallucinations _with _him, rather than being able to get him out."

Jason paused for a moment, turning over what Saba had just said, and then looked at the viewscreen on the wall behind him, where the Yellow and Blue Guardian Rangers were doing their best to try and distract the Uber-Dementor while the Green Guardian slashed at its back…

His mind was made up.

Right now, the new Rangers _needed _their Red Ranger.

With that in mind, Jason shrugged in a nonchalant manner as he looked back at Saba.

"Well, I never really wanted to live forever anyway," he said, a small smile on his face as though he found the idea of risking death rather exciting, in its own way. "Link us up."


	12. Death of Despair

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

A few minutes later, the battle between the Guardian Rangers and the Uber-Dementor still showing no signs of ceasing any time soon, Jason sat in a chair beside Harry, various cables attached to his head and neck. The cables in question were connected up to the table that Harry was lying on, the young Red Ranger constantly twitching and whimpering as the hallucinations continued to plague him.

Looking at the young man who shared his colour, Jason could only clench his fists in anger at what this kid must have gone through in his life to be having this kind of reaction to the Uber-Dementor. Kids weren't _meant _to have _this _much crap to deal with, for crying out loud!

Looking over at where Saba lay on the table between them, Jason raised an inquiring eyebrow, and Saba once again 'nodded'.

It was time for him to try and save his new friend.

Reaching out, Jason clasped Saba's handle, and then leant back in the chair, tilting his head back so that the wires had some give in them. From what Saba had told him, the wires were mainly there to give the link something _physical _to work with, and thus make his mind more receptive to the idea of making mental contact with Harry. It didn't actually make a difference whether he had the wires or not in terms of _creating _the link in the first place, but it meant that his mind wasn't, on some level, trying to _deny _that the link was taking place because it didn't see how such a thing could have happened in the first place.

Jason closed his eyes, felt something _touch _his mind…

* * *

And then he was standing in the middle of what looked like a nursery, staring at two blurred figures in front of him. Jason tried to make out his new surroundings in more detail, but for all that he could see he might as well have been trying to look at a picture from underwater; everything was blurry and indistinct, lacking the fine details that made it real.

_What's going _on _here_? Jason asked himself, as he blinked rapidly in an apparently pointless attempt to clear his vision. _Where _am _I_…?

Then he heard something.

Two voices, apparently coming from the two figures before him as they faced each other. They were just as vague as everything else around him, but he could still just make out the words they were saying…

"_Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry_!"

"_Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…_"

"_Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead…_"

Jason's eyes widened in horror as he realised what he was hearing.

His new allies hadn't really gone into much detail about their past encounters with Voldemort- they'd reasoned that, with Rita's wand now in his possession, he'd be using significantly _different _methods to tackle them, so there was no point going into detail about their old fights with Voldemort- but they _had _told Jason the essential details about what had happened when Voldemort and Harry had ended up facing each other head-on…

And if this wasn't Voldemort's initial attempt to kill Harry, resulting in the death of Harry's mother as she tried to save her son, Jason would be _very _surprised…

"_Harry_!" he yelled into the blurred void before him, hoping that the real mind of his new friend was still active somewhere. "_Snap out of it, will you_? _THIS ISN'T YOUR FAULT_!"

"It is…" a voice whispered from all around Jason, as though Harry was somehow all around him rather than in a specific location. "She died because of _me_… they all died because of _me_…"

"You were barely even a _year _old, Harry!" Jason yelled, wishing that Harry was actually present somewhere; talking to someone who wasn't physically _there _constantly left him feeling like he'd gone slightly mad, even if he knew they could still hear him. "What were you meant to do, _gurgle _at your mother to stay away and let him kill you? What could you have _done_?"

_**-FLASH-**_

Glancing around, Jason was only slightly surprised to see that his location had changed; he was now standing in some kind of old graveyard, apparently deserted for a while judging by the amount of moss on the stones around him, with two teenage boys standing before him. One was clearly Harry, albeit a few years younger- a part of Jason noted with a small smile that Harry was wearing red robes, even _before _he gained his Ranger powers- but the other boy was a stranger. He was at least three years older than Harry, rather good-looking, and dressed in yellow robes. Both were holding wands as they studied their surroundings, their stances and expressions making it clear that they had no idea _what _was going on…

Then Jason saw a third figure approaching them; a short figure, wearing a hooded robe and carrying something that looked like either a baby or a random bundle of robes.

"Oh no…" Jason whispered, his mind throwing up another detail of Harry's history that he wished he didn't have to witness or learn about.

The resurrection of Lord Voldemort, and the death of a young man simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time- in this case, of course, the wrong place was being where Voldemort was.

"_Kill the spare_," a voice said, as the figure raised its wand…

"Oh, come on; you're blaming yourself for _this_?" Jason asked, staring around himself once more, trying to ignore the sight of the body falling before him; no matter how many battles he'd been in as a Ranger, he hated seeing people die, no matter what the circumstances were.

Whether it was them being threatened by a monster (Though that hadn't happened that often, thankfully) to just them getting caught in the crossfire during the zord/monster battles, Jason _hated _it when he couldn't save the innocent people who would inevitably get hurt in the fight against the Rangers' current adversaries…

On this occasion, however, Harry once again had nothing to feel guilty about.

"What were you _meant _to do; see the future and _predict _that this was going to happen?" Jason asked Harry, hoping that he'd manage to get through to his new friend. "You couldn't have _known _that one of this guy's followers had infiltrated Hogwarts; you were caught _totally _by surprise! Are you meant to _automatically _know when Voldemort's planning something just because of that stupid link you're meant to have?"

_**-FLASH-**_

As Jason's surroundings changed once again- this time to a darkened room with some kind of door frame in the middle and people fighting- he allowed himself a small smile. If these things were being _forced _upon Harry by some outside force, it seemed to be a good guess that whatever was controlling them was trying to change nightmares because Jason was getting through to Harry and the current 'setting' was losing its effectiveness.

All he had to do was make a _really _good point before things really got started, and he might just have a chance to make Harry see sense…

"You know what, I'm not even going to _bother _seeing what happens here," Jason said, turning away from the door and shutting his eyes. "And you want to know why? _Because I already know that it wasn't your fault, Harry_."

"He _died_ because of-" Harry's voice began to say from wherever he was in this mess.

"_No_, he- whoever 'he' is- did _not _die because of you; he _died _because of this 'Voldemort' guy who's been making your life a misery for years and can't just leave you alone," Jason interrupted, making his voice as commanding as he could. "Your friends made a choice when they became your friends, Harry, and they knew what they were getting into. They knew that you were an automatic target for Dark wizards because of what you'd done in your past, but they _stayed _anyway. And why? _Because they're your friends, Harry_."

Behind him, he vaguely heard a yell being cut off, as though the yeller had been hit by something, but he refused to look around; he had a point to make to Harry, and he would _not _allow his curiosity about what was going on behind him to ruin it.

"They chose to risk their lives for you, knowing that you would do the same for them; nobody _made _them do it," he continued, hoping that the fact that he hadn't sensed any kind of flash yet meant he was still in the same scenario. "Besides, whether or not they fought because of you, from what I've seen and heard, they're all good people; this Voldemort sucker would _not_ have let them live even if they _hadn't _been helping you, if he's anything like as bad as he sounds. Did it ever occur to you that, thanks to their friendship with you, they actually learned how to fight _back_, rather than just get killed in a matter of moments?"

For a moment, there was silence throughout the 'mind', as though Harry was contemplating Jason's words, even as Jason crossed his fingers, praying that he'd managed to get through to his new friend this time around…

* * *

Then Jason found himself standing up from the chair he'd been sitting in when contact with Harry had been made, the young Red Ranger sitting up on the bed, a weakened smile on his face as he looked at Jason.

"Thanks…" he said, clutching his scar with one hand as he slowly sat up, staring at his surroundings as he did so. "Wh… where _are _we?"

"The old Command Centre- it was kind of my 'base' when I was a Ranger," Jason explained, as he stood up and helped Harry back onto his feet. "It was trashed when the Turbo Rangers lost their powers, but it was the only place I could think of where I could be sure you'd be safe until I figured out some way to help you deal with… well, what you were dealing with."

"Ah," Harry said, glancing around at his surroundings before looking back at Jason. "Give it a bit more light, and it would have been nice."

Jason shrugged.

"Well, it was a bit different back then; you tend to miss some of the details, really," he said, as he looked up a glass tube at one end of the room. For a moment, Harry thought he saw the expression he always saw in the mirror when reflecting on Sirius's death- the face of a man remembering a lost father-figure- but then Jason shook it off and looked back at Harry.

"Anyway, you'd better get going; the others need you to stop that 'Uber-Dementor' thing," he said, as he reached over to pick up Saba before tossing the sword to Harry. "You'd better take Saba; you might the extra firepower, and my powers were briefly drained from when I needed to charge the equipment up to help Saba figure out what was wrong with you."

As soon as he'd processed that sentence, Harry looked incredulously at Jason, but Earth's only Gold Ranger shook his head as he raised one hand in a calming gesture. "Don't worry about it; it's only a temporary thing, and, if it meant you'd get proper treatment, I was prepared to sit out of the action for the moment. I'll have my powers back soon, but right now, your friends need you."

For a moment, Harry's uncertain gaze flickered between the sword in his hand, the man in front of him, and the image on the screen of the battle waging between his friends and the Uber-Dementor (He only vaguely that the image was fading from the screen, suggesting that the temporary power Saba had provided was already fading), as though he wasn't sure what action he should take…

Then he simply nodded, slid Saba into his belt (On the opposite side from his typical 'Guardian Blade', as Jason was beginning to use as a name for the other Rangers' traditional weapons), picked up his helmet from the console where Jason had placed it earlier, and apparated away.

* * *

As Harry reappeared in the street where he had so recently been struck down, he was just in time to witness Hermione and Ron crash into the wall behind him, the two of them flying past him with such speed and force that it was a miracle they didn't hit _him_. Before either of them could say anything about his unexpected presence, he'd spun around in the direction they'd been sent flying from, and, Saba clasped in his hand, leapt past Ginny as she raised her wand- a faint burn on her suit suggested that she'd been attacked only moments ago- and struck the Uber-Dementor with the White Ranger's sword, sending the creature staggering back (Although Harry was sure it was more from surprise than anything else).

Ignoring the gasps of shock from behind him, Harry drew his Guardian Blade in his other hand and glared at the creature before him.

"Thought you'd seen the last of me, did you?" he asked, glaring at the creature before him as it 'stared' back in his direction (As much as anything without eyes could stare, at least; the blackness under the hood certainly _seemed _to be studying him intently). "Well, guess what? You were _wrong_."

Growling low in his throat, uncaring about the confusion of his friends around him, Harry lashed out again and again with Saba and the Guardian Blade, acting as though he was some overgrown lawnmower and the Uber-Dementor was a massive field of grass in front of him. Before the creature could do much more than stagger backwards again and again, Harry had already launched a blow that (He thought, at least; the cape billowed so much that it was hard to be sure) struck the creature on both the chest and one arm, leaving it roaring in agony as he took advantage of the lull in the fighting to run back to his friends.

"Hi guys," he said, relieved to see that all of them appeared to be all right; Ron was clutching his left arm, but otherwise he, Ginny and Hermione seemed to be unharmed for the recent bout with the Uber-Dementor. "Everyone OK?"

"Harry…" Ginny said, staring at her boyfriend in confusion. "H… how are you actually…?"

"Walking and talking after being attacked by that… thing?" Harry said, trying to sound lighthearted as he indicated the Uber-Dementor behind him (It was already starting to move again; he'd have to make the explanation brief). "Long story short; Jason managed to give me a bit of a talking-to that made me see that I was being an idiot. Now, come _on_; we've got a Dementor to kill!"

Not even waiting to see if they were behind him, Harry turned around and charged back into battles, his dual blades flashing in the sunlight as he struck again and again at the monster before him, smiling grimly under his helmet as he saw the others join him in the attack out of the corners of his visor…

Then the Uber-Dementor roared and lashed out at the four of them with one 'claw', sending them flying back as a brief, but brilliant, flash of light went off in front of them; if it wasn't for the visors, Harry was sure that they would have been blinded by the light that had just hit them.

"WHOA!" Ron yelled, as he staggered to his feet and looked over at Harry. "_That _wasn't good!"

"Thank you for that observation, Ron; we already _knew _that," Hermione said, as she glanced over at Harry. "We've already tired and failed with our patronuses, and I don't thin hacking away at it is really a practical alternative; given its power, it could easily send us into _another _one of those… comas."

"Well, what else _is _there?" Ron asked, looking in confusion at his friends. "We just whip up our zords to _step _on the bastard? No offence, but I' rather _not _resort to the big metal animals every time we've got a problem; it makes us look totally _pathetic_!"

"Wait a minute…" Harry said, an idea suddenly hitting him as he smiled over at Ron. "That's _it_!"

"What?" Ginny asked, looking in confusion at the Red Ranger.

"It's _obvious_!" Harry said, as he looked between his friends. "OK, so we can't stop this… thing… with the power of _one _patronus, or even three or four at the same time, but what happens if we _combine _the power of our patronuses into one? I mean, if it works for the _zords_- combining all of them into a single form to handle what they couldn't stop on their own- why shouldn't it work for our _spells_?"

"What… you mean… cast a _joint _patronus?" Hermione asked, looking incredulously at Harry. "But… that's never been tried before!"

"Hermione, we're fighting monsters created by a man using an alien witch's wand, with powers that were developed by Godric Gryffindor and an equally alien wizard in case some guy used both their kinds of magic to attack the world; _nothing _like this has been tried before!" Ginny yelled over at her friend, indicating their costumes as she did so. "If we don't at least give it a _shot_, we'll probably be _dead_! It's not like we've got anything to lose by _trying_, right?"

For a moment, the Blue Ranger looked somewhat reluctant, evidently uncertain whether she could actually succeed at something that, as far as she knew, was meant to be _impossible _to achieve…

But then she looked at the Uber-Dementor before them, and she nodded grimly.

"Let's do it," she said simply.

With that, the four Hogwarts Guardians gathered together in a semicircle, their hands meeting in the middle as each of them clasped one of the Guardian Blades that served as a wand in their morphed form.

"Ready?" Harry asked, looking at his friends one last time for confirmation.

"Ready," the other three said, as they stared at the Uber-Dementor before them.

"All right then…" Harry said, narrowing his eyes as the four of them spoke the two words that should end this nightmare once and for all.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM_!"

As soon as the words were out of their mouths, a massive golden form burst from the sword, charging towards the Uber-Dementor before them with a pace so incredible that it was almost lightspeed. As the four Guardians watched, the golden patronus struck the creature before them, sending the Uber-Dementor staggering back from the initial impact…

Then, as they watched, the creature's robe burst into flames, and, in a matter of moments, it was lying on the ground, reduced to dust and ash.

Looking up, Harry smiled slightly as he saw the form the 'multi-patronus' had taken to attack the Uber-Dementor. A brilliant gold rather than the traditional white colour, flames still apparently blazing from its wings as it flew above them, a beautiful, peaceful 'song' coming from its beak…

It was a phoenix.

"Wow…" Ron whispered, as he stared at the vast, majestically-flaming form hovering in the air before them. "That was… was…"

"Cool, right?" Ginny asked, smiling over at her brother under her helmet as the four of them stepped back, Hermione putting her Guardian Blade back on her belt as Harry checked that Saba was still all right. "I have to admit, it _is _pretty impressive…"

Smiling under his helmet, Harry leaned over and gave Ginny a brief squeeze on her shoulder.

"And we won," he said, as he looked at her, a broad grin on his face. "We had practically _no _experience with these powers… and we actually _won_."

For a moment, there was silence as the four of them considered what had just taken place, and then Harry sighed and looked back at his friends.

"We'd better get back to Jason and work out our next move," he said, looking at his allies with a small smile under his helmet as he did so. "Nice job, everyone; I'm just sorry I didn't manage to help you guys out earlier."

Ginny shrugged dismissively.

"You got here in the end, Harry; that's all that matters," she said reassuringly to her boyfriend. "Let's go."

* * *

A few minutes later, the five Hogwarts Guardians stood in the damaged Command Centre, Jason having just finished learning the full story of how the Uber-Dementor had been defeated.

"So… you _combined _the power of this 'anti-Dementor' spell of yours with the energy from all four of you, and hit the Uber-Dementor with the joint power of the spell?" Jason said, smiling as he looked at the Rangers before him. "_Damn_, I wish I'd been there."

"Yeah, I feel the same way…" Harry said, allowing himself a faint smile as he remembered the confrontation that had so recently taken place. "You know, when you get past the fact that it nearly killed us, it really was rather fun…"

He paused for a moment, smiling slightly as he did so, and then shook his head briefly and glanced back at the others. "Anyway, we'd best check in with Dimitria; we've still got to find the horcruxes before Voldemort tries something else."

Pulling the small circle out of his pocket, he raised it to his mouth and spoke. "Dimitria, this is Harry; sorry about the delay in making contact, but

"_An excellent job, Rangers_," Dimitria said, her voice sounding like she was smiling. "_You have proven that Dumbledore and I made the correct choice when we selected you to use this power; you have not only defeated the first of Voldemort's monsters, but you have also succeeded in proving that you are capable of combining your Ranger powers with your pre-existing abilities to triumph in combat. It is important that you never forget that you possess _other _powers than just the powers of a Power Ranger_."

"Yeah… we'll remember that," Ron said, smiling as he looked at the others.

"So," Harry said, looking curiously at the circle in his hand, "do you and Dumbledore have… well, any further ideas about where to find the horcruxes?"

"_Indeed_," Dimitria replied, briefly sounding hesitant as she spoke. "_Dumbledore and I have taken some… well, 'scans' is the best word, even if it is slightly inaccurate… of the horcrux fragments we possess so far- the remnants of the diary and the ring- and, with this energy as a 'template', we believe that we have found the approximate location where the next horcrux is hidden. We have also managed to modify your gems so that they will glow when in close proximity to a horcrux, but we cannot make the gems sense the horcrux from a distance of less than a few miles; you shall have to find the _specific _location yourselves_."

"OK; you give us the location of the horcrux, and we'll take the situation from there" Ginny said, looking anxiously at the circle. "Where is it?"

"_Well, that is what is most… interesting about it, really_," Dimitria said, sounding slightly surprised as she spoke. "_According to our scans, the horcrux is located in the city known as 'Silver Hills'-_"

"OK; we'll head down to the city and take it from there," Jason said, standing up with a smile on his face as he looked at the Guardians.

"Uh… what?" Ginny said, looking in confusion at Jason.

"Simple," Jason said, looking at his friends with a broad gin as he spoke. "Not only do I know a couple of people down there… but I actually know a couple of _Rangers _down there."

"Huh?" Hermione said, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked at Jason. "There were _Rangers _down in Silver Hills?"

"Oh yeah; the Time Force Rangers," Jason said, smiling as he looked back at his new friends. "Four of them- the Pink, Yellow, Green and Blue Time Force Rangers- were police officers from the year 3 000, tracking a mutant criminal called Ransik who'd gone back to the past to try and erase his enemies from existence. Once back in the past, they recruited two people from the present to be the Red and Quantum Rangers- the Red Ranger was needed for the Morphers to work, and the Quantum Morpher was discovered by accident- and, eventually, they managed to convince Ransik to change his ways. Those from the future… well, they went back to the future in the end… but the Red and Quantum Rangers are still hanging around in the present; last I heard, they ran a security service for the city."

"Ah," Harry said, nodding in understanding as he looked at Jason. "So… you think they'll be willing to help us?"

Jason smiled.

"They're Rangers, Harry," he said, as he looked at his associate. "Trust me; they'll want to help us."

He smiled slightly as he looked back at the other Red Ranger. "Besides, I'm _pretty _sure at least one of them still has his zord; if push comes to shove, they can _definitely _hold their own in a fight."

* * *

As he stood in his throne, trying to conceal his inner anger over the recent defeat of his monster, Voldemort could only clench his fists in frustration.

_DAMNIT!_ he growled to himself, as he stared at the large staff that was rapidly replacing his original wand for use in the day. _How could they have defeated it so _quickly_? If they're this powerful _already_, then there's no _telling _how much more powerful they'll become in the future? An enhanced _Dementor_- a creature so powerful that even _I _would have had trouble with facing it- and these _idiots _defeated it without _any _casualties?_

Sighing slightly, Voldemort stared at the staff he held in his hand.

He _had _been planning to try and tackle them with other monsters beforehand, of course, but, given their easy defeat of his _first _monster, he would evidently have to move his plans faster than he had expected.

He was just going to have to hit the 'Hogwarts Guardians' with his little 'surprise' and hope for the best; even if it didn't succeed right now, it might give him the time he needed to come up with a more _efficient _plan of attack.

Raising his staff, he thumped it once on the floor, and smiled as he saw the waves of dark energy emerge and spread out through the room.

The signal had been sent.

Soon, the so-called 'Guardians' would be forced to face the wrath of the _Black_ Ranger…

And he strongly doubted that they would fare quite so well against a foe like _that_ in a fight.

_You may be good at fighting _monsters_, my 'friends'_, he mused to himself, allowing himself the luxury of a small grin as he settled back down in his throne while beginning to contemplate the next monsters he may create, _but let's see how last against one of your _own _kind…_


	13. Time for Time Force

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Sorry about the delay; writer's block can be a _real _pain at times

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

A few hours later, Jason's jeep drove into the main road leading to Silver Hills city, the five Hogwarts Guardian Rangers sitting in the car as they studied their surroundings. Harry and Jason were in the front, Jason driving while Harry studied the map, and Ron, Hermione and Ginny were in the back, taking advantage of the temporary time-out to catch a quick rest on the way to the city.

It was that reason, more than any other, that was why the five of them had decided to take Jason's car rather than just apparate to Silver Hills. Apparration may be faster, but they needed a chance to unwind after a hard day now and again, and, since hotels weren't exactly practical- Jason was the only one of them who had any American money and he'd prefer to save it unless they absolutely _had _to use it- the car would probably be the closest thing they had to a bed, no matter how inefficient it could be- until the search for the remaining horcruxes was over.

"So… how did you meet these guys?" Harry asked, glancing over at Jason curiously as they turned around another corner in Silver Hills; the other Rangers were already beginning to wake up, so he figured now was as good a time any to ask for the answers to the obvious questions they faced at the moment.

"Oh, it was a mass Red Ranger mission a few years back; pretty much every past Red Ranger joined forces to stop some of our old foes activating an old weapon- this stupidly powerful zord that one of our first foes had tried to use against us- and we had to destroy it before it could reach Earth," Jason explained, as he looked back at Harry. "Strictly speaking, the Quantum Ranger wasn't a _Red _Ranger per se, but my immediate successor to the Red Ranger powers wasn't available- I never actually found out what kept him occupied- and I guess Tommy invited him to help make up the numbers."

He shrugged his shoulders slightly in a nonchalant manner as he glanced back at the other Rangers- all three of them now looking more alert than they had been even a few moments ago; they'd definitely had a decent sleep- and then turned his attention back to the matter of driving as he continued talking to his colour successor. "Anyway, we all exchanged contact details in case we ever needed each other again for some reason- you know, if something like that had ever come up again or something like that- so I know where they're stationed in Silver Hills."

"Ah," Ron said from the back, looking at Jason in a slightly uncertain manner; evidently, the new Yellow Ranger _thought _he understood what their White Ranger was saying, but wasn't entirely certain he'd got it right.

"So," Hermione put in from the back, shaking her head despairingly at Ron, "who are these Rangers when they're not… well, Rangers?"

"The Red Ranger's Wes Collins, son of the owner of major company BioLab," Jason explained, as he turned a corner while talking. "When the other Time Force Rangers arrived in the past- they were tracking a major criminal from their timeline; human mutant called Ransik- they discovered that their morphers wouldn't work unless all five were activated at once, and, unfortunately, their _original_ Red Ranger was dead and hadn't managed to alter his morpher."

"Oh," Ginny said, looking at Jason in an uncertain manner, as though she wasn't sure what to say to that. "So… what did this 'Wes' guy have to do with that?"

"Well, he looked remarkably like their Red Ranger, so the Time Force team guessed- correctly, it would appear- that he would go on to become the ancestor of the Red Ranger they knew, and, hence, his DNA might be a close enough match for the morpher to accept him," Jason explained, as he took another turn. "He actually became a very effective member of the team, providing them with a base- an old clock tower- a means of making a living- running an odd job shop; in this time they weren't really qualified to do anything else- and, of course, helping them… well, connect with the people in the past who they had to protect, I guess is the best the way of saying."

Hermione nodded. "That's always a good thing; you don't want to grow detached from what you're fighting for…" she said, a thoughtful expression briefly crossing her face before it changed to a curious one as she looked directly at Jason. "What about the Quantum Ranger? Where did he fit into the team?"

"Oh, he was an old friend of Wes's from college- Eric Myers; the guy got to school on a scholarship from a poor background- who found the Quantum Morpher- an experiment of Time Force's to create a more advanced morpher- at an archaeological dig; the morpher got lost during one of their initial time travel experiments," Jason continued to explain."Eric had always thought that Wes thought he was better than Eric because of his background, and so resented him even more after Wes's identity was accidentally exposed to his father in a fight- his visor was cracked, apparently. Anyway, Eric found the Quantum Morpher when he was made a member of the Silver Guardians- a group set up by Wes's father to deal with the mutant attacks; they were initially to act as bodyguards for the upper-class of Silver Hills- and used it to become leader of the Silver Guardians. Initially, he didn't really care about anyone but himself- he _helped _people, but he didn't care about the fine details like keeping technology from the future out of the hands of anybody who could use it for their own ends, or being a Ranger just because it was the right thing to do without expecting any rewards for it- but, after a fight with a monster who could control his zord- the Quantasaurus Rex, so-called because it resembled a Tyrannosaurus Rex- Eric began to realise the responsibility being a Ranger gave him, and started working with the team on a long-term basis, right up until Ransik was finally convinced to reform after his daughter was nearly killed in their last fight."

As Jason stopped his car outside a building that seemed to be the main office of BioLab- judging by the sign in front of it- he smiled as he looked back at the other Rangers. "When the other Rangers returned to the future- there was all kind of problems about them continuing to live in their _past _and risking changing their future that prevented them from just staying here- Wes and Eric were allowed to keep their morphers- so long as nobody tried to duplicate the technology in them- and went on to become joint leaders of the Silver Guardians, which now operates more like an independent police force than anything else. That's part of the reason I figured Dimitria had given us enough information by telling us the horcrux is located here; if there's anything odd in the city right now- and I strongly doubt this 'Voldemort' guy would hide something this important without setting up _some _kind of defences that would attract attention- the Guardians will either know about it or have a good idea where we should start looking to learn more about it."

Harry smiled slightly.

"Well, at least that's _something_ going our way, at least," he said, as the team got of the car and studied the building before them as Jason locked his car behind them. "Right now, we could _definitely _use all the help we can get; if these guys run a police force- of sorts- that should be a definite bonus in our current situation."

"Pretty much what I figured," Jason said, as he took the lead and began to walk towards the main door of the building, stopping just before he reached the doors to look back at the others. "Hope you don't mind if I do the talking right now; it's just that, since I know these guys already-"

Harry held up a hand and nodded reassuringly at the original Red Ranger.

"Don't worry, I understand," he said, an accepting expression on his face as he looked at his friend. "Quite frankly, it's sometimes a relief _not _to be expected to act as the leader all the time in a crisis situation; you want to take the lead this time around, that's fine with me."

Jason nodded back at Harry and then entered the building, barely even registering the various displays on the walls around them- including some newspaper articles about the Rangers and the Silver Guardians, he noted- as he walked towards the receptionist desk in front of the main door.

"Yes?" the woman at the desk said, looking up at Earth's original Red Ranger curiously. "Can I help you?"

"Well, I hope so," Jason said, as he looked at the woman, trying to present a relaxed attitude as the other four stood around him, silently agreeing that it was best to let him to take charge at the moment. "I'm looking for Wes Collins and Eric Myers; I have something I'd appreciate their help with."

"I see…" the woman said, as she turned to her desk and picked up a folder. "Mr Collins and Mr Meyers are rather busy men, I'm afraid; if you have an appointment, it would speed things up…"

"No appointment, but they'll know who I am," Jason said confidently. "Just let them know that Jason Scott's here with the new guys- probably for a few days or more- and they'll let me in- those _exact _words, mind you," he added, looking at her in a fixed manner that seemed to be his way of making sure that she understood what he'd told her.

To her credit, despite the intensity of his gaze, the woman didn't appear significantly intimidated by it; she just reached over, picked up her phone, dialled a few numbers and waited a moment before speaking. "Sorry to bother you, sir, but I have a Jason Scott out here- he said to tell you that he's with 'the new guys' and will probably be here for a few days at least- and he wants to-"

She blinked in surprise at something on the other end of the line, then regained her composure, nodded uncertainly in response to something on the other end, and then placed the phone down as she looked back at Jason.

"You… you can go through, sir; just take the lift at the end of the corridor, and you'll find Mr Collins and Mr Myers in Mr Collins's office on the top floor," she said, looking at him surprise; she was evidently wondering how someone like Jason- a man she'd never even _heard _of before now- merited such attention from the commanders of the Silver Guardians. "Also, Mr Collins was _very _insistent that you be accorded anything you might need as well during your stay in Silver Hills; if you or your associates require anything at the moment…"

"Don't worry; if accommodation's the issue, we're not fussy about where we sleep," Hermione said, picking up on the other woman's more immediate concern. "Just see what you can find while we're in the meeting; this might take a while anyway."

The woman could only nod in response as the five visitors headed for the lift that the woman had indicated. No sooner had Ron pushed the call button than the lift doors had opened and they were inside the steel-and-wood lift. Hermione promptly pushed the button for the top floor, and the lift began to move rapidly upwards.

"So… how much can we tell them?" Hermione asked, looking inquiringly over at Jason as they moved upwards. "I mean, Dimitria _did_ say we were to keep our powers secret…"

"I don't think it'll really apply if we're telling people who are _already_ Rangers, 'Mione," Ron said, looking over at their Blue Ranger in a slightly exasperated manner, the affectionate grin on his face the only thing that showed that he wasn't really that bothered about it.

"On that topic, apart from their morphers, what kind of powers have they got available?" Harry asked, glancing over at Jason curiously. "I mean, from their Ranger days- I assume they have something if you think it's safe to involve them in a crisis of this scale?"

"Well, Eric's still got his zord, the Quantum Defender- a gun that can double up as a sword-, this Mega Battle Armour that allows him to fly and unleash a significant amount of firepower, and the TF Eagle- a one-man 'fighter jet' from the future," Jason explained, as the life advanced ever closer to the top floor. "Wes doesn't have access to a zord any more- I don't think Time Force would allow him to summon something like that back here on its own or something like that- but he's still got the Strata Cycle- a motorcycle that doubles up as a small jet-, his Chrono Blaster and Sabres, and his Battle Warrior Armour- some armour he acquired from the spirit of a long-dead knight. They may not be a complete team, but I'd say the two of them have access to enough firepower to do some _serious _damage if the need arose."

Harry nodded as he looked at the White Ranger, a satisfied expression on his face as he took in what their newest member had told them.

"Sounds like they'd provide some decent back-up to me," he said, before he glanced over at the others. "How about you three? You OK in getting them involved in this problem?"

The other three Guardian Rangers only had time to voice their agreement when the lift stopped and the doors opened, revealing a spacious office that seemed to be large enough to hold the entirety of Gryffindor House, from first to seventh year, albeit without leaving much extra space. Sitting behind a large desk opposite the lift, dressed in a dark business suit over a red shirt, was a young man in his mid-twenties, shaggy blond hair flopping down over his forehead, grinning broadly at the new arrivals. Another man, apparently of a similar age, with short black hair and slightly Asian-looking features, dressed in what looked like a variation of a SWAT uniform, was standing off to one side of the desk, an expression on his face that somehow managed to combine eagerness with edginess; the man looked like he was trying to decide whether to shake their hands or hit them.

"Hey, Jase," the man in the suit said, getting up from behind the desk and walking over to shake the new White Ranger's hand, a broad grin still on his face. "Great to see you again!"

"Same for you two," Jason said, grinning back at the man before glancing over at the other figure in the room. "Hope you don't mind me dropping in on you like this…"

"Nah, it's fine; business has been kinda slow since the last time we met, so we're perfectly OK with helping you out with anything you've got going on," the man in the SWAT-like costume said, before glancing over at the other four Guardians. "So, these are the new Rangers, huh, Jase?"

"That's right," Harry said, nodding informally at the older man; he knew that Jason had vouched for them, but, at the same time, Harry was instinctively wary of being too open with people he'd only just met, so he was reserving judgement about the former Rangers for the moment. "I'm Harry Potter, and these are my friends; Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger; as Jason said, we're the Hogwarts Guardian Power Rangers."

For a moment, the man in the suit looked at the Rangers before him with a puzzled expression, as though he was thinking of asking them about

"Interesting name; good to meet you," he said at last, having apparently decided not to ask about the name as he stepped away from Jason to shake Harry's hand. "I'm Wes Collins, Red Time Force Ranger- I take it from the shirt you're my 'successor'?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Harry said, chuckling slightly along with Wes as he glanced down at his shirt; a red-and-white checked piece of clothing he'd thrown on because he'd just noticed it hanging up in his wardrobe. He had to admit, he hadn't consciously been thinking about it, but the red parts of the shirt _did _match the red of his Ranger uniform pretty well…

"So, you'd be Eric Myers- the… _Quantum_ Ranger, right?" Hermione said off to Harry's side, walking over to the other man in the room and breaking Harry's train of thought. The man nodded briefly in response, clearly still uncertain about them, but Hermione acted as though she hadn't noticed, and just smiled brightly at him as she held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you too," she added brightly. For a moment, Eric looked as though he wasn't going to respond anyway, but then he smiled slightly at her and shook the new Blue Ranger's hand.

"Always a pleasure," he replied curtly, before he released Hermione's hand and looked back at Jason. "So, what's the situation you need our help with? Or did you just drop in because you want the new guys to get a bit of training?"

Jason sighed slightly as he looked at his old friends.

"Unfortunately, it's help we need," he explained, looking apologetically at the two men. "You see, our current major adversary… well, to cut a long story short, he's a wizard who cut his own soul into pieces and stuck some of the parts in various locations; we're pretty sure one of them's here, and we'd like your help in finding it."

For a moment, Wes and Eric could only blink in surprise as they took in what the current White Ranger had told them. After a brief pause, however, Wes shrugged and glanced over at Eric.

"Well, I suppose if we can accept that _demons _exist to help the Lightspeed Rescue team, wizards aren't _that _much of a stretch," he said to his friend, before looking back at Jason with a resolved expression. "So, you want our help finding this… soul fragment?"

"Exactly; it's called a horcrux, and we've got a pretty good idea of what it looks like," Harry said, nodding in confirmation at the Red Time Force Ranger, a slight smile on his face. "Trust me; right now, anything you can do to help us would be _very _much appreciated; we're still pretty new to the Ranger gig."

"Really?" Eric said, looking over at the four Hogwarts students with a small smile. "Well, trust me on this, my friends; you want tips on being Rangers, you've got some of the best at _that _particular job right here in this room."

"Modest as ever, Eric, I see?" Jason said, smiling casually over at the Quantum Ranger. "Good to see some things never change…"

"You know, it's not _arrogance _when it's _accurate_, Jason!" Eric pointed, out, shooting a teasing glare in the White Ranger's direction. "I mean, I _did _have one of the most powerful zords that's ever been under my control, not to mention the firepower _I _could pack…"

Noting the suddenly uncertain glances Harry was exchanging with his allies, Eric shook his head and smiled reassuringly at them. "Don't worry; I get that power isn't _everything _about being a Ranger."

He shrugged casually as he glanced over at Wes, a small smile still on his face as he looked at his friend. "It's a nice bonus, but I think, looking back, I prefer the friends I made at the time."

"Yep; gotta agree with you on that," Wes said, smiling over at his friend before he looked at the Hogwarts Guardians. "So, shall we begin?"

"The sooner the better," Ginny said, an apprehensive expression as she looked at the Quantum Ranger. "Trust me; the situation we're dealing with right now is _not _going to be an easy one to deal with…"

Wes shrugged casually as the group of seven walked towards his elevator.

"Don't worry about it, Miss Weasley," he said, as they stepped into the lift and he pushed the button to close the doors, "if we wanted a _quiet _life, I wouldn't have asked for the morpher back all those years ago… oh, and Eric wouldn't still be dating Taylor."

"Do you _have _to mention that every time we meet new Rangers?" Eric groaned, as he glanced over towards his fellow Time Force Ranger. "I mean, it's not _that _amusing…"

"Trust me; it _never _ceases to make me laugh," Wes said, chuckling casually as he looked back at Harry while the elevator doors closed. "Taylor was the Yellow Wild Force Ranger; we met during this incident involving a trio of hybrid villains from the future, and Eric and Taylor…"

He shrugged dismissively as the lift began to go down. "Well, they kind of hit it off and started dating, albeit in a rather unconventional manner; I'm never sure whether they're going to break up in a violent struggle or start having wild passionate sex in Eric's office-"

"We're. _Not_. _That_. _BAD_," Eric growled, as he glared over at Wes.

"Uh… it's cool; we _believe_ you, Eric," Ron said, uncertainly patting the Quantum Ranger's shoulder reassuringly as they continued to descend towards the ground floor. "I mean… well, if you don't want to discuss the Taylor thing… we'll leave it at that."

Fortunately, Eric appeared satisfied with the current Yellow Ranger's assurances of innocence, and appeared content to continue the ride down in silence.

Of course, if he'd noticed the brief look that passed between Wes and Ron- a look that made it clear that Wes would be filling Ron in on further information about the Taylor situation later- he might have not been _quite_ so content to stay silent about it right then.

* * *

As the small group vanished from the office, the doors of the lift closing behind them, none of them knew that, from the opposite street, a young man crouched on a rooftop, a small smirk on his face as he lovingly studied the pitch-black gem strapped to his wrist.

_So, my fine little 'Hogwarts Guardians'_, Draco Malfoy mused to himself, a casual grin on his face as he studied the room where his soon-to-be opponents had just been standing a few moments ago, _you think that, by allying yourself with some foolish mudbloods, you can overcome the Dark Lord_?

He chuckled as he stood up, flexing his shoulders as he stared at the building where his adversaries were currently located.

He'd let them get _close _to what they were looking for…

And then, at the last minute, he'd reveal himself and his power to them once and for all, and they'd finally realise how foolish they were to _ever _try and defeat the Dark Lord.


	14. The Dark Guardian

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"So," Wes asked, looking curiously over at Harry as the two of them sat in the front of the Silver Guardian jeep he'd selected for the current jaunt through town, "how did you and your friends get involved in this whole Ranger gig?"

Having made their way down to the garage, the Guardian Rangers had split up into three cars, the best to cover more ground; Wes and Harry had taken one car, Eric, Ron and Ginny had taken the second, and Jason and Hermione had taken the third one, each one of them covering a different area of the city. It had been silent for the first few minutes of the drive- it was always awkward for Harry to make conversation with new people- but Wes had apparently finally come up with a topic he wanted to talk about, and Harry was grateful for the break in the silence.

"Well, it's a long story, but the short version is that I've been a wizard for the last six or so years of my life, and it's been prophesised that I'm meant to be the one who kills our current opponent in the end," Harry explained, as he looked back at Wes. "The Power Ranger thing's more of a recent addition, but I've pretty much spent the last few years of my life fighting evil even _without _my Ranger powers-"

"Hold on a minute; it was _prophesised_ that you'd be the one who can defeat this guy?" Wes asked, looking over at Harry in surprise. "As in, you know people who can actually see the _future_?"

"Only in a few rare cases; quite frankly, my school's Divination teacher is pretty much a _total _fraud," Harry explained, shrugging casually as he looked at his new friend. "Anyway, our current opponent recently got an upgrade- he was originally just a relatively conventional wizard- so we acquired our Ranger powers to be able to match him, then we met Jason, he was given another power source that allowed him to join the team, and we came here to search for some stuff that we need to destroy if we're going to be able to kill this guy."

"Ah," Wes said, nodding slightly before he looked back at the young wizard. "So, what's the_ long_ version of that story? I mean, what have you faced so far, where'd you get your powers from, why were you chosen for them, that kind of thing?"

"Well, so far, Ranger-wise, we haven't fought anything more than a massive bird, some old adversary of Jason's- Goldar, I believe his name was- and a creature that causes you to experience your greatest fears," Harry replied, shrugging slightly as they turned a corner and began to head down another street. "However, as I mentioned, we've tackled other bad guys and monsters even before we acquired our Ranger powers; as a result, we've also fought a troll, a massive snake that kills you if you make direct eye contact with it, a werewolf, a dragon or two, and a bunch of dark wizards trying to acquire that prophecy I mentioned earlier- you know, the one that says I'll be the one to defeat our current adversary- to give it to their master so he can learn more about what was said in it."

"Yikes…" Wes muttered, half to himself, raising his eyebrows as he looked over at his fellow Red Ranger. "And you dealt with that kind of thing _before _you became a Ranger? Geez, the worst thing _I _had to deal with before I got my powers were just board meetings…"

Harry shrugged.

"Well, that's what happens when you go to a school for wizards after being identified as the only person able to stop the most powerful evil wizard for three centuries; you always end up getting stuck in the middle of the bad guys' plot even when you don't want to be there," he said, an almost dejected expression on his face as he looked back at Wes. "Being a Ranger may be hard, but at least you guys actually _chose _to be the heroes; I pretty much _had _to be one before I could even say whether or not I wanted the job."

Wes sighed slightly as he turned another corner.

"Yeah, I see your point," he said, as he shifted gears while continuing to drive along the road. "I mean, I wasn't one of the _original _Time Force team- heck, the leader tried to kick me out after I'd helped them activate their morphers originally- but I went back to help them fight their bad guys because I _wanted _to do it, not because I _had _to…"

He sighed slightly as they continued driving, prompting a curious glance from Harry.

"Something wrong?" he asked his new friend.

"Mmm? Oh, nothing major; just… memories, you know," Wes replied, sighing again and staring wistfully ahead of himself for a moment.

"There was a girl back then, right?" Harry asked, smiling slightly at his fellow Red Ranger.

"What?" Wes said, looking over at Harry in surprise. "How did you-"

"I didn't; I just guessed," Harry explained, shrugging slightly with a small smile on his face as he looked at his friend. "Who was she?"

Clearly seeing that further protest would be pointless, Wes sighed wistfully as he turned his eyes back to the road; even if he was talking to Harry, he had to keep his eyes on the road.

"Her name was Jen," he explained, unable to stop the somewhat wistful expression that reached his face as he thought about her once again. "She was the Pink Time Force Ranger, and was the leader of the team while it was back here; her fiancé, Alex, was the original leader as the Red Ranger, with Jen serving as second-in-command, but she took over the leadership role when he was apparently killed shortly before they came back here. We spent a lot of time together- I even became the unofficial second-in-command for the team despite not having any prior combat experience- and, well… one thing led to another…"

"And you both developed feelings for each other, huh?" Harry asked, smiling slightly as he looked back at Wes as they turned another corner. "So… what happened?"

"She had to return to her own time when the crisis had run its course," Wes explained, a saddened look evident on his face. "We both _wanted _her to stay, of course- Hell, Alex turned out to be alive back in the future and she _still _chose me over him- but, in the end, we had to consider the course of history over what we wanted…"

"And history didn't show her being in the past, huh?" Harry asked, sighing as he reached over to place a comforting hand on Wes's shoulder. "Tough break… I'm sorry."

"Thanks," Wes said, nodding slightly and giving Harry a small, grateful smile before turning his attention back to the road ahead. "I'm grateful for the time we _had _together, of course, and I get that having the love of the girl of my dreams is more than some people are lucky to have, but… y'know…"

"Yeah," Harry said, nodding slightly sadly as he looked back at his new friend. "It can't really compare to having her _stay _with you, does it?"

* * *

Up on the top of one of the many office buildings gathered around Silver Hills, a dark-clad form with shockingly pale hair stared down critically at the two Rangers in the jeep before him, a sneer on his face as he studied the distant figures.

_Pathetic_… he mused as he stared at them. _All that power, and they dare to use it against the greatest power this pathetic world has _ever _known? They should _ally _with it and live; not try to futilely oppose it and _die

_Of course_, he reminded himself, chuckling slightly as he glanced back down at his own wrist, where his Guardian Gem gleamed darkly in the sunlight (He didn't even spare the energy to wonder how something could gleam _darkly_ in sunlight; it was the only description he could come up with, and, so long as it worked for him, he wouldn't question it), _I _do _have a far greater power than they do, so it hardly matters_.

As the jeep continued to drive along the road, Draco Malfoy waited patiently for the moment when they reached the location where the Dark Lord had instructed him to hide his 'artefact' (He didn't know _why _the Dark Lord had wanted something hidden here, but he was hardly going to question the man who would eradicate the mudblood filth from the world).

As soon as they got too close to what he was meant to protect, he would show them what _true _power was all about.

Malfoy had to admit, he was _definitely _looking forward to using some of his 'perks' against these foolish _idiots_…

* * *

For a few moments, the two Red Rangers continued their journey in silence, their thoughts briefly occupied by matters of the heart (One of dreams that could never be and the other of hopes that might not be fulfilled), before something occurred to Wes and he looked curiously over at Harry.

"You never actually mentioned earlier; how are we meant to _find _this… horcrux thing… we're looking for here?" he asked, an uncertain look on his face as he spoke to his new friend. "I somehow don't think your opponent stuck it somewhere that it would be _easy _to find, and even the Silver Guardians don't have the resources to search an entire _city _for _one _object…"

"Oh, my gem will attend to that," Harry said, indicating the gem on his wrist. "Apparently, our mentors set it up so that it glows… when… we're… close…" he began, trailing off as he took in the sight before him; his Guardian Gem, the source of his power, was glowing in slow 'pulses' of light, with each succeeding glow occurring more rapidly after its predecessor as the car continued to go further into the streets of Silver Hills.

"Let me guess; that means we're getting closer to this 'horcrux' thing?" Wes asked, jerking his head at the gem while trying to keep his eyes on the road.

Before Harry could reply- although Wes was pretty sure he knew what the reply would have been anyway- the ground in front of the jeep suddenly exploded- literally _exploded_- in front of them.

If they hadn't had such an experienced driver at the wheel, or if it had been later in the day with significantly more traffic rather than around the middle of the day with most people already at work, there might have been a serious accident. As it was, before the dust had even finished settling, Wes had already jammed his foot on the brake and rapidly spun the wheel around, bringing the car to a halt alongside the hole in the road. Pedestrians were running from the scene of the explosion in shock, hurrying into the surrounding office buildings, but otherwise there seemed to be no serious damage as a result of the explosion; even the rubble from the blast hadn't spread much further than the edge of the road.

"What the _hell_?" Wes said, staring incredulously at the large hole in front of him. "What was _that_?"

"_That_, you mudblood idiot, would be _me_," a voice said from some presently-unseen location.

As soon as the voice had spoken, however, Harry wasn't sure if he should groan or laugh; quite frankly, both would have been appropriate as far as he could see.

"_Malfoy_?" he said, standing up in the jeep to look around himself with a small smile. "_You're _the best Voldemort had to send after us? I'm almost insulted…"

"Malfoy?" Wes asked, looking over in confusion at his fellow Red Ranger. "Who's he?"

"Oh, an old school rival of mine," Harry explained nonchalantly as he glanced back at Wes. "He always went on about how he thought our team's current foe was so great and how he couldn't wait for the opportunity to serve him in the upcoming war, but, in the end, he couldn't even kill somebody when he absolutely _hated _his would-be victim and had him totally defenceless; trust me, he's more of an annoyance than an actual _danger_."

"Ah," Wes said, nodding slightly as he took in what Harry had just told him. "So… he's a wizard too, right?"

"Yep, but only on about the same skill level as I am," Harry replied, nodding in the affirmative as he turned his attention back to finding his old school rival. "What are _you _doing here, Malfoy? I would have thought Voldemort wouldn't allow you to come _near _me or my friends after the mess you made of trying to kill Dumbledore the last time I saw you?"

"Oh, it came pretty close to being a bad thing for me…" Malfoy's voice continued, chuckling slightly as his voice became clearer; evidently, he was walking out of whatever location he'd been standing in earlier. "However, it turned out that the Dark Lord had… _other_… matters he wanted my assistance with… matters that I, naturally, had _no _intention of refusing, given the perks that came with the job."

"And what would _that _be?" Wes put in, looking around himself even as his wrist instinctively shifted to the morpher on his wrist. "A nicer robe so you can hide in the shadows better? A fancier wand so you can cast stronger spells?"

"Far from it, you _mudblood_ **_idiot_**," Malfoy's voice retorted, even as he stepped out from the shadow of a pillar outside a nearby building, glaring casually in the direction of the two Red Rangers. "I have something that you cannot _hope _to match in combat."

"Namely?" Harry retorted, glaring casually at Malfoy as he raised his wand to point at his Guardian Gem to prepare to attack.

"_This_," Malfoy stated simply, as he raised his wrist to indicate a shockingly familiar gauntlet attached to his arm.

Baring the fact that the gauntlet was a silver colour rather than the gold colour that Harry and the other Guardian Rangers possessed, and that the gem in the centre of the gauntlet was black rather than the brighter colours of its counterparts, it was a Guardian Gem.

"Like it?" Malfoy chuckled, enjoying the shocked expression on his old rival's face as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the Gem.

"Black Warrior Power… _attivare_!" he yelled, before either Harry or Wes could do anything to stop him. Instantly, a black swirl of energy surrounded him, and, when it faded, the Black 'Guardian' Power Ranger was standing before them.

It only took a moment for Harry and Wes to take in what their new opponent looked like; it was clear to them both that his outfit had been 'designed' with intimidation in mind more than anything else. Like the other Guardian Rangers, it was predominately made of a spandex-like material- black in colour, naturally- with metal gauntlets around the forearms and just below the knees, with a wand on the right side of his waist and a sword on his left.

There were key differences, however; the main one was that, like Jason, this costume included black armour with gold edges, albeit in a more violent, 'sharpened' design style than Jason's costume. Other differences included small, sharpened 'spikes' on the gauntlets- they vaguely reminded Wes of Batman's gloves-, an equally sharp-edged gold 'mask' on the helmet that resembled the helmet of the original White Ranger, and the sword that hung at his side was longer and sharper than the other 'Guardian Blades'.

Put simply, while the other Guardian costumes were 'designed' not to be intimidating, this costume _definitely _looked like it could do some damage and terrify its opponent as it did it.

Drawing his sword from his side, Malfoy pointed the blade at Harry.

"En garde?" he said casually, sounding as though he had to resist the temptation to laugh out loud at his old rival's current situation.

Grimly, Harry pulled out his wand and raised his wrist to expose his own Guardian Gem.

"Wes," he said, glancing back towards his friend, "you call the others; I'll handle Malfoy for the moment."

Before Wes could protest, Harry had aimed his wand at his gem, yelled out "Gryffindor Guardian, _attivare_!" and, in a flash of light, had leapt towards the Black Guardian Ranger, sword drawn as he lunged towards his foe.

Despite the fact that he was up against a new and unexpected threat in the form of an evil Power Ranger who also possessed magical powers, Wes couldn't stop himself from smiling as he raised his Silver Guardian communicator to his ear.

They were once again facing a potential danger to the city- possibly the world- that nobody else could handle, with innocent lives at stake and they themselves having little real idea how they could triumph over a foe who apparently possessed _all _the powers of the new team of Rangers.

OK, so admittedly Wes and Eric had little experience of that _last_ part of the question- even when Eric had first acquired the Quantum Morpher, he'd been more of an asshole than actually being _evil_- but, in a sense, it was only a more extreme version of them facing monsters when they weren't totally aware of what their foes would be capable of.

"Eric?" he said into the Silver Guardian radio he'd pulled off his belt. "Get the others and get here fast; we have an evil Ranger problem."

With that said, he hung up, tossed the radio off to one side, and activated his morphers.

Eric only needed to know the basics of any situation to come up with an effective defence; he was good at strategic details like that. Right now, however, Harry needed help, and Wes was ready and willing to oblige.

As he raised his arms, Wes smiled as he felt the familiar power begin to flow through his body; he rarely used the morphers these days, reasoning that it was an unfair advantage over normal criminals, but, right now, he was eager and willing to use them.

_Time to show this guy what being a Ranger is _really _about_, Wes thought grimly, staring one last time at the Black Ranger that was currently duelling with the new Red Ranger, before he raised his arms and spoke the words that had changed his life almost four years ago.

"_Time for Time Force_!"


	15. Round One: Black Guardian VS Rangers

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Eric had been driving through Silver Hills with the new Rangers for about half an hour already, and he was rapidly beginning to think that he'd set his hopes too high by assuming that something would actually _happen _on this mission.

It wasn't so much that he disliked his companions- overall, Ron and Ginny were decent enough people, and he was finding what they had to tell him about their school rather interesting- but the main reason he was even here in the first place was because he'd been expecting to have something to _fight_, and so far that part of his hopes for the day weren't coming to pass. He'd been expecting to end up fighting for his life against a powerful evil determined to conquer the world, and so far he'd failed to even encounter so much as a _random_ criminal, never mind a Ranger-level bad guy…

"So…" Ron said, looking curiously over at Eric. "How'd you actually end up on this team anyway? From what Jason told us on the way here, you weren't actually one of the original group of Time Force Rangers; you just… well, found the morpher and used it, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Eric said, nodding in confirmation at the new Yellow Ranger as he turned another corner. "Looking back, I was a bit immature at the time- too hostile to everybody when they'd done nothing but try and help me learn what I'd taken on by using the Quantum Morpher- but I had a whole ton of issues when it came to Wes."

"Like what?" Ginny inquired, looking curiously over at Eric.

"Well…" Eric said, pausing uncertainly for a moment- he acknowledged that honesty in a group was important, but he still felt slightly uncomfortable thinking about what a jerk he'd been back then- before he finally decided to continue, "for one thing, I'd been to the same prep school as Wes- got there on a scholarship when I was younger- but felt that everyone else resented me just because I came from a poor background. Wes was pretty much the only guy who didn't talk to me like I was lower than the scum on his boots, but I always felt like he was only really hanging out with me out of some 'get-points-with-the-lower-class' thing."

"Wait, you mean Ron's not the _only _one to do that kind of thing?" Ginny said, looking in surprise at Eric before glancing over at Ron with a slight smile. "Well, on the bright side, at least you're no longer the _only _person to act like a complete gimp towards a close friend because of something they couldn't control."

"Uh… what?" Eric asked, looking in confusion at Ginny. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Ron here just once treated Harry in what sounds like the same way you treated Wes; assumed he enjoyed getting attention for something that he couldn't control and didn't ask for," Ginny explained, smiling slightly over at the Quantum Ranger. "Harry was entered into this dangerous inter-school tournament thing three years ago by somebody who wanted to kill him and Ron thought he'd done it on purpose to get more attention, resulting in him basically acting like a git-"

"_Hey_!" Ron said, looking over at Ginny with an offended glare. "I wasn't _that _bad!"

"Ron, you'd known Harry for over three _years_ by that point, and it took him going head-to-head with a full-grown _dragon _to realise that he might _not _have been after more attention?" the new Green Ranger said, looking critically over at her brother. "I mean, I don't know why you didn't twig on it earlier; had Harry ever shown _any _sign that he believed his 'celebrity status' made him better than anyone else?"

Despite the fact that he had to focus on his driving, Eric chuckled slightly as he glanced over at Ron.

"Yeah, we're two of a kind, all right; I was pretty much the same with Wes," he said, a slight grin on his face as he looked at the red-haired boy with the yellow gem on his wrist. "Hey, I wonder who was the _bigger _idiot; me for never giving Wes a chance to show he was a better guy than I thought, or you for making an assumption like that about somebody you'd known for _years_?"

Before Ron could reply to that comment, Eric's car radio suddenly activated, and the Quantum Ranger's blood almost ran cold as he heard the news Wes had to relay from the other end of the line.

"_Eric_?" Wes's voice said on the other end of the radio, sounding as close to panic as Eric had ever heard his friend. "_Get the others and get here fast; we have an evil Ranger problem_."

_Shit_, Eric mused to himself as the radio terminated and he spun the car around; the car's inbuilt computer systems- developed to allow them to immediately access any potentially useful information when dealing with a crisis- always automatically provided the location of a car that had just reported being in danger- one of the few features of the morphers that the scientists of the present had been able to use.

He'd never actually encountered any evil Rangers himself- hell, his _team _had never even had any evil Rangers to deal with; back when he'd originally acquired the Quantum Morpher, he'd been the closest thing they'd had to an evil Ranger, and he'd only been a jerk rather than actively malicious- but any encounters he'd had with other Rangers had confirmed one thing in his mind; evil Rangers equalled one _seriously _tough battle.

"OK then," he said, glancing briefly at the GPS below the radio- the red light indicated Wes's car and the black one indicated his, with the two of them drawing rapidly closer to each other- before he turned to look at the other two, "you guys get ready to morph; evil Rangers are _never _easy, so our best is to hit him hard and hit him fast before he's had time to realise what's happening to him. Got me?"

As soon as they'd nodded in understanding, Eric reached down to activate the radio that would put him in touch with the other car; he freely acknowledged that he should have made this his first priority, but he had always been a firm believer that, when fighting in a team, the main objective was to get _some _kind of back-up to those who needed it most. The fact that there were other people who could provide the aforementioned back-up wasn't important to Eric; he knew that aid was needed first, so it was his duty to get there as soon as he could and let anyone else who might be able to help know about the situation once he was on his way.

"Jason?" he said anxiously over the radio.

"_Yeah_?" Earth's first Red Ranger replied over the communicator. "_What's the situation; found a Horcrux_?"

"Nope," Eric said grimly. "Situation just got even worse; Wes and Harry have run into an evil Ranger situation and need our help."

"_WHAT_?" Jason yelled in shock over the radio.

"_An EVIL Ranger_?" Hermione's voice added over the radio. "_But… but how's that POSSIBLE? How could Voldemort have created his OWN Gem_?"

"_With Rita's wand available to him_?" Jason said grimly, as Eric heard a faint screech that sounded like Jason had just turned his car rapidly around a corner. "_I'm only shocked that I didn't think of it earlier. That thing was almost _stupidly _powerful back in the day; duplicating a power source couldn't have been _that _hard for it_…"

"Recriminations later, Jase; we've got a situation right now," Eric said grimly as he rounded another corner; the original Red Ranger may have had the greater Ranger experience, but as far as Eric was concerned, right now he had the superior long-term tactical experience. "We need every man we can to get to Wes and Harry's position as soon as possible; if what you've told me about the Green Ranger was accurate, the more people we have there the better."

"_Agreed_," Jason said, before he terminated the radio link between the two cars, evidently wanting to focus on driving to their current destination at the immediate moment.

Almost as soon as the radio had shut down, Eric had turned his car around another corner, and there in front of him, duelling with the Red Hogwarts Guardian and Red Time Force Rangers, was a man who could only be the evil Ranger Wes had told them about. He may have been dressed in a black costume that resembled the Guardian Rangers if they'd decided to go blade-crazy when piecing their costumes together and wanted to scare people instead of protecting them, but he was definitely an evil Ranger; it didn't take a genius to see that.

Eric wasn't sure whether the multiple blades were a good thing or a bad thing; the way he saw it, either this asshole was trying to compensate for something with all that crap around him, or he was so dangerous he just wanted to increase the amount of damage he could unleash if he wanted to. Judging by the way the new arrival moved as he fought with Wes and Harry, Eric was guessing the first one- the guy didn't look like he had that much experience when it came to fighting hand-to-hand- but he didn't want to commit himself either way right now and form a preconception about this guy's fighting method before the fight had really started.

"Oh my God…" Ginny whispered in shock at the sight before her. Eric noted with only a slight degree of surprise that she looked nervous at the prospect of getting involved in the fight that awaited them; Eric was prepared to bet that she hadn't been in that many battles in her apparently short career as a Ranger. "It… it really _is _an evil Guardian Ranger…"

"I know; sucks to take on something like that, but we just have to deal," Eric said simply, before he sharply hit the brakes, reaching up to activate his morpher as soon as the car had stopped moving. "Let's do it; Quantum Ranger, Quantum Power!"

"Slytherin Guardian, _attivare_!" Ginny yelled, pushing aside her initial shock as she pulled out what Eric assumed was her wand- neither her or Ron had actually told Eric how they channelled their magic when they wanted to cast spells, but what else could that stick she carried about be?- and aimed it at her gem, a burst of green energy almost automatically surrounding her body.

"Hufflepuff Guardian, _attivare_!" Ron added, his own wand aiming at his gem as he spoke, a yellow energy burst spreading over his gauntlet as she spoke.

Mere seconds later, all three of them were dressed in their Ranger uniforms, leaping out of the car and drawing their assorted weapons in preparation for the upcoming struggle.

Eric noted with a slight degree of envy that the others seemed more comfortable with their weapons than him- he generally used the Quantum Defender as a gun rather than a blade- but pushed it aside. They all had their strengths, and his may lie more with wielding a gun than holding a sword, but, right now, he had to focus on staying in close. No matter how much he prefer the Defender as a gun rather than as a sword, he wasn't going to give this guy the chance to remember he had 'long-range capabilities' for lack of a better term; he may have been good at what he did, but Eric still didn't fancy his chances against a guy using _spells_ against him.

"Ah, more of the losers, I see," the Black 'Guardian' said- Eric could only think of him as a Guardian Ranger, even if he didn't look like he was interested in using his powers to _guard_ anything right now- as he looked mockingly at Ron and Ginny, Wes and Harry having pulled back slightly after seeing their allies arrive. "Tell me, _Weasels_; how does it feel knowing that you're not the _only _people who can use-"

"Hold on a minute here; _Malfoy_?" Ginny yelled, interrupting their new enemy's rant with a tone of voice that sounded to Eric like she was about to burst out laughing. Evidently, the Quantum Ranger concluded, she knew the guy under the helmet and regarded him as totally pathetic; the only question was whether he'd improved since then or their foe had just been desperate to pick somebody to fight them. "Out of all the Death Eaters he could have picked, Voldemort made _you _the Black Guardian Ranger? God, he _must _be desperate for followers…"

"_Silence_, you… you _blood-traitor_!" 'Malfoy' roared, pointing his blade in the Green Ranger's direction.

"Y'know, it's that kind of attitude that stops people from ever taking you seriously; you're too _repetitive_," Ron groaned, chuckling slightly as he stared at their foe. "If you'd just try and be a bit more original when you were threatening people, they might be prepared to see you as a threat, but as it is, you're only just a bit more scary than… well, Voldemort." (Eric briefly wondering why Ron said that name so rapidly, but pushed it to the back of his mind; there was probably some reason behind that, but, at the moment, they had more important things to deal with than why Ron said a name a certain way).

"You have no _right _to say the Dark Lord's name-" Malfoy began, staring at his opponents with such intensity that Eric was surprised something wasn't on fire.

"Why; does he get embarrassed about it?" the Quantum Ranger put in, glaring at Malfoy under his helmet. Attracting the attention of someone capable of using magic against him with the same ease that some people breathed may not have been the best idea he'd ever had, but he'd never been good at hiding behind other people when facing a dangerous situation; if there was a fight to be had, he was going to make sure the other guy knew he was a force to be reckoned with "I don't blame him, really; I mean, just tweak a couple of letters and it sounds like 'Moldy Warts'…"

"I SAID _SILENCE, _MUDBLOOD!" Malfoy roared, raising his blade and lunging towards Eric, the Quantum Ranger only just managing to parry the Black Guardian's attack with his own blade; this guy wasn't very skilled at fighting, but even amateurs could get lucky at times. "HOW _DARE _YOU TALK BACK TO YOUR _BETTERS_!"

"Y'know, I'm starting to get the impression you don't like me," Eric said, sighing slightly as he studied the younger man in front of him, talking as though he was only facing a disobedient twelve-year-old rather than a young man who was perfectly prepared to kill him where he stood. If nothing else, his new allies' attitude suggested this guy wasn't much of a threat, and, given that their attitudes continued to suggest that they'd seen him only a little while ago, he doubted the man could have had enough training to become that much more dangerous than he'd been back then.

"But then," Eric continued, making his nonchalance about the upcoming combat clear with every part of him, "that's fine with me; I've only known you a matter of seconds so far and I already want to pound your head into the ground."

"_HAH_!" Malfoy roared, letting out a brief harsh laugh as he lunged at Eric, the Quantum Ranger once again deflecting the blade with the Quantum Defender. "You _honestly _believe that you- _you_- are capable of defeating someone empowered by the Dark Lord himself? I possess the greatest concentrated magical item in history, and you-"

"Possess the greatest piece of technology ever developed in the thirty-first century; care to bet on who'd win in this kind of showdown?" Eric asked, as he brought the Quantum Defender up to parry another blow from his adversary. "Quite frankly, you're really _not _impressing me; you've got some decent talent, but you talk _way _to much to really be scary, and your fighting abilities are totally amateur at best."

"Yeah; I mean, even _we're _doing better than you!" Ginny interjected as she kicked out at the Black Ranger's side, smirking broadly as he staggered back briefly before regaining his balance and glaring at her, panting heavily as he tried to regain his balance and start fighting once again. "Jason's barely even had time to give us _any _fighting tips, and yet we're still kicking your sorry ass all over the place, to say nothing of the natural knowledge the Gems give us- which you _don't _seem to have, I might add! I mean, did Voldemort even give you _any _hand-to-hand combat skills, or did you just think you could hack your way through us with a few enhanced spells and we'd fall like dominoes?"

"_SHUT UP_!" Malfoy roared, lashing out with his blade again, only for Harry to block the Black Ranger's blade with his own with an ease that was so casual it was as though Harry was doing nothing more stressful than catching a ball. Only Wes and Eric's greater experience in hand-to-hand combat allowed them to see that Harry's reflexes were fast, but he was clearly more used to other methods of fighting than duelling with a sword; he was fast, but he looked slightly uncomfortable with his weapon, as though he was used to fighting with methods other than swords.

_Of course_, Wes mused to himself as he reflected on what Harry had told them about their lives back at their school, _given that these guys sound like they've done most of their fighting with spells rather than swords, it's not exactly a big surprise_.

"You see, _this _is why you only got anywhere in life thanks to your father's money; you don't have the skill or the power to get anywhere on your own when you're actually trying to get something accomplished by yourself," Harry stated, looking at Malfoy as though he was just an interesting little detail on the landscape, clearly refusing to show his (Admittedly slight) unease at fighting in this manner. "Without it, you're nothing more than an overly repetitive, unimaginative, unskilled, pathetic… _loser_."

"I AM _NOT _THE LOSER HERE, _POTTER_!" Malfoy roared, as he kicked out with an attack that sent Harry staggering backwards- although all watching the fight were convinced that it was more by luck rather than any deliberate intent on the part of the world's latest evil Power Ranger; Harry and the rest of the Guardians were inexperienced, but Malfoy clearly had no clue what he was doing. "_EXPELLIARMUS_!"

As the spell leapt from Malfoy's blade, Harry barely even needed to think to come up with a counter-attack; he simply moved his own blade into the path of the spell, in a move that seemed to be an almost instinctive attempt, and the spell was absorbed harmlessly into the Red Ranger's weapon, which glowed briefly before returning to normal.

"Wow…" Harry whispered, as he glanced at his sword. "_Nice_ weapon I've got here…"

"NO!" Malfoy roared, he started in shock at his unharmed adversary. "This _can't _be happening! I am _invincible_! You are _nothing _compared to me! _CRUCIO_!"

Once again, a spell launched from Malfoy's sword towards Harry, and once again Harry's blade absorbed it as easily as it had the last one.

"Well well well…" Ron chuckled, as he looked mockingly at Malfoy, his sword raised as he studied their old school nemesis. "Looks like spells don't really _work _against us these days…"

"Fists, guns and swords, on the other hand," Wes added, his Chrono Saber clutched in one hand as he looked at Malfoy with a small smirk, "I'm willing to bet they'll work just _fine_ against any kind of defence _you_ have on offer."

With that said, Wes lunged towards his enemy, bringing the blade down towards Malfoy's shoulder before the Black Guardian could move his own weapon to block the attack. To Malfoy's credit, he managed to partially parry the blow, sending Wes staggering back with a subsequent kick to the stomach, but it was clearly an amateurish blow at best; even Harry suspected that he could have delivered a far more damaging blow to Wes than that if they'd ever had to go up against each other.

"YOU _DARE_ TO-" Malfoy began, his voice making it clear that he was about to begin another rant at the Red Time Force Ranger for having the nerve to touch someone who was superior to him.

"Know something, berk?" another voice said from behind Malfoy. Before Malfoy could reply, a powerful figure clad in a white costume crashed into his back, sending him crashing down to the ground as his new attacker placed a foot on his back, a sword pointing at the Black Guardian's neck. "You talk _way _too much to be a serious threat."

* * *

"Ah, Jason, Hermione; you're here," Harry said, sounding very nonchalant about the whole thing as he looked up at the White and Blue Hogwarts Guardian Rangers. "What took you guys so long?" 

"Traffic was murder, and I had to make a call to the Silver Guardians to seal this area off on the way back," Jason explained nonchalantly, as he turned his attention back to the figure currently pinned beneath his boot. "So, you're the latest evil Ranger? Gotta say, I'm not impressed; I faced the first evil Ranger quite a few times, and you're nowhere _near _as tough as he was."

"Yeah; what _was _the original Green Ranger like back then anyway?" Ginny inquired, looking casually up at Jason, an almost mocking tone in her voice as she looked back at Malfoy, making her disdain for him clear.

"Oh, one _seriously _dangerous fighter," Jason said, making his general disdain for Mafloy's 'talents'; he didn't even seem particularly concerned about the Black Ranger's presence below his foot as he spoke. "He managed to keep all five of us on our toes no matter _what _we tried, and the only reason I took him out in the final battle was because I tried some new trick I'd learned about only a couple of days ago. This guy?"

Tapping the side of Malfoy's helmet with Saba in a nonchalant manner, Jason smiled casually up at his friends. "As far as I can see, the stupid sucker doesn't seem to have _any _combat skills at all; he can barely even hold his own against a bunch of amateurs- no offence meant, you guys," he added, looking apologetically over at Harry and the other Guardians.

"None taken," Harry said in an understanding manner, the other Guardians nodding their agreement with that assessment. "After all, we haven't really had much time to work on the whole 'hand-to-hand combat' part of being Power Rangers; it's not like our abilities in that regard would be anything _but _amateur."

"Uh, as fascinating as this is, maybe we should consider focusing more on the issue of where the horcrux we're looking for actually is, rather than just accept that it's 'around here somewhere'?" Hermione asked, looking somewhat critically over at her teammates and allies as she indicated her still-pulsing gem that indicated the presence of the horcrux somewhere around them. "Don't get me wrong, I enjoy beating Malfoy up as much as the rest of you, but we _do _have more important things to attend to right now-"

Whether it was Malfoy's loyalty to his master or simply his own arrogant belief that he needed to be the centre of attention that drove him to do what he did next, none of the Rangers would ever know for sure. All that _was _certain was that one minute Malfoy was still pinned to the floor, fuming as Jason held his sword to the Black Ranger's neck, and the next the dark-clad wizard was back on his feet, Jason staggering back and clutching at an unpleasant-looking hole in his side that seemed to have been caused by Malfoy's sword.

"YOU _DARE _TO IMPLY THAT _I_ AM NOT IMPORTANT?!" Malfoy roared at his opponents. "I'LL SHOW _YOU _'NOT IMPORTANT'!"

"Oh, and what are you going to do to achieve _that_?" Ginny retorted, as Hermione and Ron hurried to help Jason off to the side and examine his injury; Malfoy may have seemed relatively unconcerned about the fate of the White Ranger, but his teammates had to make sure he'd be OK. "Face facts, you _prat_; we've been kicking your ass since this fight actually _started_, and you've only managed to injure one of us by _chance _so far. The Gem makes you tougher than you would have been, true, but you're not exactly doing anything to show us that you're anything _like _an actual threat-"

"That. IS. _ENOUGH_!!!" Malfoy roared, spinning around to launch a spell at Ginny that the Green Ranger only just managed to duck; it punched a hole in a nearby wall, but otherwise did no real damage to anything. "If you want me to be a _real _threat, then I'll show you all how much of a _threat_ I can be!"

As the gathered Rangers watched the sight before them in shock, Malfoy raised his sword to the sky, a brilliant bolt of lightning launching into the air from the weapon before spreading out to surrounding streets. As soon as the lighting had struck the ground, three large figures began to run towards Malfoy from further along the streets, as though they'd just been hiding behind buildings rather than having been called by his magic.

Like the five zords of the Guardian Rangers, each zord represented an animal that had some significance in the magical world. However, unlike the core Guardian zords, all three of Malfoy's zords were uniquely magical animals, although it was clear from looking at them that, unlike the White Dragon Guardian Zord, none of them could form a zord on their own; they'd have to combine to do anything.

One of the zords was a large spider- most likely intended to be an acromantula like Aragog-, dark brown in colour, with thick sharp legs and unnervingly bright green eyes, and an elaborate-looking 'S' symbol on its back that Harry recognised from the pensieve recollections he'd watched last year with Dumbledore as the symbol of Salazar Slytherin. The second zord resembled a mechanical version of the Basilisk that had once been kept hidden in the Chamber of Secrets, the only differences- apart from it being mechanical, of course- were that it was a deeper shade of green and had the same elaborate 'S' symbol on its forehead as the Acromantula Zord had on its back. The third zord was in the form of a massive black three-headed dog, the 'S' symbol that seemed to be the only thing all three zords had in common located below all three of its heads at the base of their mutual throat, with long, razor-sharp teeth and claws and pointed shoulderblades.

"Oh my God…" Wes breathed in shock as he stared at the large zords before them, wishing once again that he'd been able to maintain regular access to his zord when the rest of the team returned to the future. "That's _really _not good…"

"_Hah_!" Malfoy smirked, as he glanced over at Wes's shocked expression before turning to address the Guardian Rangers. "You thought you'd beaten me, _Potter_? Think again!"

With that, he leapt up into the air, turning into a momentary flash of black light that 'flew' back towards the Cerberus zord, apparently entering the zord's main head. As the Rangers studied the sight before them in horror, the Cerberus zord leapt back onto its hind legs, the centre head folding down to the middle of its chest while it's the other two moved to the side, opening out right down the middle as the dog's front legs folded up into its body. As soon as its legs had folded into itself, the Basilisk slithered towards the Cerberus, 'climbing' up the zord's leg until it reached the shoulders, subsequently breaking in half as the two halves clamped onto each side underneath the Cerberus's other heads, the two halves of the Basilisk forming arms while the dog-heads served as 'shoulder pads'. The Basilisk had no sooner 'snapped' into place on either side of the Cerberus than the Acromantula jumped onto the Cerberus's back, wrapping its legs around its main body like an elaborate armour, its head rising up to reveal a more humanoid head that settled on top of the Cerberus zord's body.

In a nutshell, the evil megazord in front of them looked _extremely _powerful, and perfectly prepared to stomp everyone into the ground just for being there.

"Aw, _crap_…" Ron muttered, as he glanced up at the large zord before him. "That's _just _what we need…."

"Oh, I don't know about _that_," Harry said as he glanced over at his allies, before his eyes fell on Jason and he looked anxiously over at Hermione while she checked him over. "How's he doing?"

"Well," Hermione said, shrugging somewhat apologetically at Harry, as though she felt that it was somehow her own fault that Jason was out of the fight for the moment, "the blade doesn't appear to have penetrated anything vital, and his powers are already attending to the damage, but even with the magic of his Gem and his enhanced Ranger healing, I think it's safe to say that Jason isn't going to be fighting any time soon; for the moment, the best thing he can do is wait here and give himself a few minutes to recover."

"OK, so that's the White Dragon zord unavailable for the moment…" Harry sighed as he glanced down at Jason before looking curiously back up at Wes and Eric. "Any chance one of you two could get Jason somewhere that he could get that injury checked out? I'm pretty sure his Ranger healing will help him take care of the worst of it, but I'd still like him to get _some _attention right now."

"Sure thing," Wes said, nodding as he crouched down to haul Jason back up to his feet; the White Ranger briefly protested, but the way he continued to clutch at his side made it clear that he was in no shape to do anything about it right now. "I'll get him checked out; think you guys can handle this sucker?"

Ron chuckled slightly as he turned his attention back to look at the large zord before him.

"Oh, trust me," the new Yellow Ranger said, a broad smile on his face under the helmet as Wes carried Jason back to his jeep. "As far as we're concerned, this sucker's already _scrap_…"

"Let's just get on with it, OK, Ron?" Harry sighed, as he and the girls drew their wands, pointing them at their wands as they waited for Ron to catch up and pull out his own.

"OK then, guys," he said, as Wes began to drive away with Jason, leaving Eric to stand off to one side in case he was needed. "Guardian zords, _attivare_!"

As soon as the incantation was out of their mouths, all four of their zords appeared from behind another group of buildings, running towards the four Rangers who had summoned them.

"Whoa…" Eric said, looking approvingly at the four large animal-like zords as they ran, flew and slithered towards the Rangers who'd summoned them. "_Cool_…"

"Tell me about it," Ginny added, smiling slightly as she glanced over at the Quantum Ranger. "But you think _that's _cool, wait until you see-"

Before Ginny could finish her sentence, something happened that none of them had been expecting; the Serpent Zord, slithering through the straights as though it was a normal snake chasing a small rodent that it wanted to eat, suddenly turned around and literally _bit _the Badger Zord, its fangs digging into the yellow zord's paw and sending it staggering into a nearby building.


	16. Round Two: Black Megazord VS QRex

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"What the _Hell_?" Ginny and Ron said simultaneously, Ginny looking incredulously at her Gem as Ron, after a brief moment to regain focus, diverted the Badger away from the still-attacking Serpent. "But… but…"

"_Surprised, my foolish little mudblood-lover_?" Malfoy's voice suddenly chuckled; Harry was prepared to bet he was using either his zord's speaker systems or a Sonorus Charm to make his voice that loud. "_You shouldn't be; surely you should have guessed that, as the heir to the great Salazar Slytherin himself, the Dark Lord would be able to overcome _your _control of the zord that is his by right_?"

"Oh yeah, just because the Gem's based on _his _house that automatically gives him the right to control it?" Ginny retorted, staring grimly up at the zord before her. "It's _my _zord, Malfoy; _not _yours! You _can't _control it!"

"_I beg to differ_," Malfoy chuckled, as the Serpent leapt up into the air, missing the Eagle's left wing by only the skin of its teeth as the blue zord rolled to the side. "_You forget, Miss Weasley, I gain my powers from the descendent of Salazar Slytherin himself; your powers come from a couple of cheap, second-rate wizards who couldn't imagine a time when the world would have grown beyond the need for them_."

As the Serpent leapt towards the Lion, Harry only just managing to divert the large red zord away from the attacking green mechanical animal that should have been his ally. Ginny swore as she clutched at the gem, trying desperately to regain control of her zord by sheer force of will, but it seemed to do no good; the Serpent continued to try and lash out at its former allies, leaping into the air and winding around buildings to try and get at the Eagle zord while jumping out to bite at the zords around it on the ground.

"Oh, _great_," Eric groaned, as he stared at the green zord as it lunged at its counterparts. "This is _just _what we need; a zord going rogue on top of having to tackle an evil Ranger…"

"You can't _do _this!" Harry yelled up at Malfoy, willing Ginny on to try and break whatever control Malfoy had over her zord. "The Serpent is _Ginny's _zord!"

"_It's _Slytherin's _zord, Potter; that's all there is to it_," Malfoy chuckled, as the Serpent once again narrowly missed taking a chunk out of the Eagle's wing. "_All I require is a bit of effort, and it is mine as easily as the Snitch is_-"

"What, you mean the Snitch you only ever caught because your broom was so _ridiculously _fast at what it did that you got there way before most people?" Harry retorted, allowing himself a slight smirk as he played their only remaining card; annoy Malfoy and provoke him into losing his focus.

It wasn't exactly a perfect plan, of course, but it was all he could think of that might do the trick right now.

After all, for all of Malfoy's new power, he was still fundamentally the same person he'd always been back at Hogwarts; a coward who relied on his father's money to get him out of trouble, but who could never have the courage to actually do anything _permanent_ like murderregardless of how much he talked about it.

"_What_?" Malfoy said, his voice for once low at the prospect of being insulted, rather than the loud, angry yell he'd commonly used in the past; whether that was a good thing or a bad thing Harry couldn't be sure. "What _did you say to me_?"

"Just the truth; that you're a talentless git who only ever got anywhere because he used his father's cash to acquire a ridiculous advantage over the rest of the people involved in whatever your current enterprise was," Harry said, folding his arms as he smirked up at his enemy, only devoting just enough attention to his zord to stop it being hit by one of the Serpent's attacks. "You really need to face facts, Malfoy; according to you, you've been flying since you were old enough to hold onto a broom, and yet, _every _time we've flown against each other, the only time you even came close to beating me was in second year, and that was only because you had a faster broom than I did. Don't think that just because you've got a bit of an upgrade now that's changed at all; a loser _dressed_ like a Power Ranger is still a loser, as far as I'm concerned-"

"_SILENCE_!" Malfoy roared, his zord's right arm- the one with the basilisk's head on the end of it- aiming at them and firing a powerful burst of energy at them.

"_Move_!" Eric yelled, shoving Ron and Hermione off to one side as Harry and Ginny dived in the opposite direction, Harry mentally cursing himself for not expecting that reaction; Malfoy may not be talented, but he could be _very _tempremental if provoked. Unfortunately, they weren't able to evade the worst of the attack; the residual shockwaves from the blast struck Ginny just as she was in mid-air, sending her crashing into a nearby wall with extreme force.

"_NO_!" Harry roared, running over to crouch down anxiously beside the young woman he loved as her Ranger uniform vanished, leaving her dressed in casual clothing with a faint line of blood trickling down the wall from the back of her head. On the plus side, the Serpent zord retreated as she powered down- clearly Malfoy hadn't managed to completely take control of it from them and it was still tied into the Green Guardian Ranger being active- but the fact remained that the Rangers were now a member and a zord short, with no way of replacing either in the time remaining to them.

"_Ginny_?" Ron yelled, looking anxiously over at his sister as Harry checked her over; her pulse was still strong, the wound didn't look that serious, and she was at least currently protected from any attack of Malfoy's by the wall she was currently slumped against- mass destruction wasn't Malfoy's style; he went for a precision attack where it would hurt his main enemy the most if he was fighting somebody; he only used indirect methods when he didn't want to make his presence known (A fact that rarely happened as far as Harry could recall)- but she definitely wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

"She's alive," the Red Ranger assured his friend as he looked up, before shaking his head at the sudden expression of hope that he could almost see regardless of Ron's helmet. "She's out of the fight for the moment, though."

Turning back to look at the large, imposing form of the megazord that now stood before him and his team, Harry grimly shook his head as he studied their latest challenge. "Not that it matters either way, of course; we've not got any way of waking her up in time to help us, and even if she was awake, we _still _don't have a way to counter his control over the Serpent zord long enough to form the Guardian Megazord to fight that thing. I doubt that Jason's going to be available to help us out any time soon, so that's the White Dragon zord out as an option, and I _don't _want to have to deal with this kind of sucker with only individual zords…"

"Right then," Eric said grimly, as he turned to stare at Malfoy's zord, "it's time to bring in _my _big gun."

"What?" Hermione said, looking in confusion at their ally.

"Allow me to demonstrate," Eric chuckled, as he raised his morpher to his lips and spoke into it. "Q-Rex, _arise_!"

Instantly, a loud roar sounded from down the street, and, a few seconds later, a large silver head rounded the corner of one of the buildings, the head soon followed by a large silver-and-red body; it almost reminded Harry, Ron and Hermione of a metal dragon, except that it was far bulkier and had two large guns rather than wings.

"Oh my God…" Hermione breathed softly as she stared at the massive zord before them. "That… that's _incredible_…"

"Yep," Eric chuckled as he looked back at her. "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Quantasaurus Rex, _the _most powerful zord ever developed by the Time Force agency of the thirty-first century… and my own personal zord, I might add; only obeys my voice, and does some _serious _damage when it's needed."

Turning back to glare at Malfoy, Eric chuckled as he raised his morpher to his helmet once again. "Q-Rex, transform and _finish _this guy!"

Roaring as if in confirmation, the Q-Rex stood up and almost seemed to lean backwards, its guns folding forwards around its head to become arms and its head lowering to reveal a more human head. In a matter of seconds, the large dinosaur-like machine before them had been replaced with a human-sized one, easily surpassing Malfoy's megazord in size without even needing to combine with other zords to transform.

"OK; _that _is cool," Ron said, looking over at Eric with no small degree of envy. "How did you _get _something like that; I mean, it transforms into something _that _big by _itself_?"

"There's this whole long story involving time travel and the thing being temporarily hijacked by the bad guys and stuff like that; trust me, this isn't quite the time for me to give you its full history," Eric replied, before he jerked his thumb at their opponent. "Now then, do we deal with this arrogant son of a bitch, or do you guys want to just keep talking and let this sucker win by default?"

"You have to ask?" Harry retorted, before he glanced back at Ron and Hermione. "OK guys; just use the zords on their own and try and keep Malfoy off-balance. Eric's the expert here when it comes to using the zords; let him take point in the assault when the time comes to finish this guy, but do what you can to the Megazord otherwise. Understood?"

"Naturally," Hermione said, nodding in agreement at Harry's plan.

"Sounds good to me," Ron added.

With that, the three Rangers leapt into the air, each one almost instantly arriving inside their zord control rooms as they prepared for the coming battle. A part of Harry regretted that they wouldn't have another opportunity to form the Guardian Megazord- it really _was _rather cool to be fighting in something like that, even if he wasn't entirely used to it yet-, but, overall, he felt that this method of zord combat had the potential to be just as interesting.

Turning the Lion to face the large Megazord before them, Harry grinned slightly as he saw the powerful zord step back slightly; clearly, Malfoy's anxiety over the upcoming battle was being subconsciously transmitted and intercepted by the zord's control systems.

He'd still fight like a cornered animal when they got in close enough to do some damage, of course- Harry had no illusions that Malfoy would just give up the fight no matter what the odds were against him- but, while they were confident in their ability to use the zords, Malfoy clearly had little real idea what he was doing.

"Right then, Malfoy," Harry chuckled, glancing over at the other three zords as they took up positions to attack the Black Megazord (As he was already thinking of it as), "you want a fight? Let's _give _you one."

With that, all four zords charged towards the Black Megazord, the animals roaring in rage (Or screeching in the case of the Eagle) as the Q-Rex raised its arms, ready to launch a blow at their opponent as soon as the others had launched their own attacks. Before the Black Megazord could move to retaliate, the Lion had crashed into its chest, pinning its opponent to the ground as it roared in rage, slashing at the Megazord's face with one paw as its powerful teeth tore into the armoured chest. As the Black Megazord desperately tried to throw the Lion off, the Eagle dived down from off to one side, its talons slashing at the zord's head on one pass while the second one tore at the zord's legs. As the Badget charged forward, the Lion leapt off the Black Megazord, allowing its yellow 'associate'- for lack of a better term- to get in its own assault, its powerful claws tearing at the Black Megazord's armour before the downed Megazord managed to grab the Badger's foreclaw and hurl it off to one side.

"_Filthy _ANIMALS!" Malfoy's voice roared as the Black Megazord staggered back to its feet, glaring at the three zords before it. "_I will _DESTROY _you for daring to touch your superior_!"

"_Y'know something, you great big prat_?" Eric's voice said from the ground, drawing Harry's attention back to where the humanoid form of the Q-Rex was standing, looking scornfully at the Black Megazord. "_Jason was right; you spend _way _too much time talking to be a real threat_."

Before the Black Megazord could retaliate, the Q-Rex had raised its arms and launched two simultaneous attacks from each arm, the right arm launching a missile while the left one sent its own fist flying off the wrist. As both attacks struck the Black Megazord, the other Rangers cheered as the initial glow of the explosions failed, allowing them to see the Black Megazord once again, its armour damaged at various points all over its body.

"_How about that_?" Eric chuckled, as the Q-Rex strode over to glare at its downed adversary. "_I came, I saw, I kicked some sorry _ass!"

"_NO_!" Malfoy roared, as his zord desperately got back up to its feet, glaring as resolutely at the Q-Rex as a large zord with a relatively immobile face could glare. "_You _cannot _defeat me; I am a pure wizard, and _you _are_-!"

"_I've got a really big zord packing a hell of a lot of firepower that says your precious blood doesn't mean jack_," Eric retorted, raising his zord's arms once again as he chuckled slightly over the radio. "_Simple question for you, buddy; just how much punishment do you think your stupid zord can take before the whole thing comes apart on you_?"

"You've _lost_, Malfoy!" Harry yelled over the radio link, unable to stop a slight smirk as Malfoy's zord staggered back, clearly responding to its master's instinctive fear at his current situation. "Just _accept _it, will you?"

"_NEVER_!" Malfoy roared, the Black Megazord suddenly thrust one hand forward, palm open, emitting a burst of green energy that sent the Q-Rex staggering backwards, as well as temporarily disabling the other zords. As the gathered Rangers watched in confusion, a brief burst of light leapt from the Black Meagzord's head towards a nearby building, the Rangers caught a brief glimpse of a black-clad figure in a room on an upper level of the building for some reason, and then the same black-clad form jumped back into the zord, something vaguely visible clutched in one hand.

"_You think you've won_?" Malfoy yelled, chuckling as he glared at the disorientated zords before him. "_Think again; _I _have claimed the item the Dark Lord charged me to protect, not you! You shall _never _triumph now_!"

With that said, the Black Megazord divided into its respective components, the three animals turning around to return to wherever they had originally come from.

"_Get them_!" Eric and Harry yelled over the radios simultaneously, the Q-Rex and Red Lion charging after the Acromantula, the Cerberus and the Basilisk as soon as whatever Malfoy had done to them had worn off (Or had at least partially worn off; Harry noted that the Q-Rex seemed slower than it had been earlier), the Badger and the Eagle close behind them. However, it only took them a few moments to establish that it had been for nothing; as soon as the Dark Zords had vanished from view, they'd just vanished back to wherever they'd come from, with no sign apart from the damage they'd just inflicted that they'd ever been there in the first place.

"_Damnit_…" Eric groaned, slamming his hand against something inside the zord- presumably a wall- as the Q-Rex transformed back into its tyrannosaurus form. "_I take it that whatever he grabbed was probably the horcrux thing you mentioned_?"

"That's pretty much a certainty," Harry replied, nodding grimly as he stared in frustration at the area where Malfoy had been mere moments ago. "Right then; our immediate priority should be to regroup, check with our injured allies, and then come up with a new plan of attack; we need to lure Malfoy into attacking us again before he returns to Voldemort and the horcrux is relocated."

"_What makes you think he'll _try _to attack us again_?" Hermione's voice cut in anxiously. "_He got what he wanted; why should he bother fighting us once more_?"

"Simple," Harry replied casually. "He's Draco Malfoy, and he'll never be able to accept the idea that he can't beat me for good. He may have gotten the better of me this time around, but that'll never be enough for him; he'll be back to finish the job soon enough."

"_And when he comes back…_" Ron said, his eagerness at the prospect evident in his voice.

"_We open up the proverbial can of whup-ass on him, huh_?" Eric chuckled.

"Exactly," Harry nodded, allowing himself a slight smirk before he forced his thoughts back onto the more immediate matters that awaited them. "Right now, though, we need to get back to the others; Ginny and Jason should be on their feet soon enough what with their Ranger healing, but I'd still like to wait until I'm sure we can commit all resources to our next attack before we try and find Malfoy again."

"_Fine by me_," Eric said, as the four zords turned away from each other and began to return towards their respective hiding places. "_I'd like to run a few diagnostics on the Q-Rex; it seems to be a bit sluggish since that last attack_…"

"Don't rush on our account; we'll manage," Harry assured Eric, trying to contain his more immediate concern at the prospect that Eric had just hinted at.

If the Q-Rex had taken too much of a shock from that last magical 'assault' of Malfoy's, they were down one zord- one _very _powerful zord, he felt no shame in adding-, with no guarantee of something being available that would be powerful enough to make up for its absence. If Ginny couldn't overcome Malfoy's control of the Serpent, or Jason wasn't back up on his feet by the time they got back…

Well, the situation seemed likely to get uglier than it was already, and even right now it wasn't exactly pretty.

As he and the other Rangers leapt out of their zords, powering down as they landed, Harry could only hope that they wouldn't have to face _that _worst-case scenario; he had enough to worry about as it was without needing to go up against Malfoy at less than full power…


	17. Recuperation and Reflection

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"Ugh…" Jason groaned as he blearily blinked his eyes open, forcing himself back to consciousness as he clutched reflexively at his side. "What _was _that…?"

"You got stabbed by the new evil guy when he managed to land a lucky blow to your side," a voice that Jason vaguely recognised as Wes said off to one side, presumably sitting beside his bed. "I had to get you out of harm's way so you'd have a bit of time to heal while the others dealt with the sucker, so I took you to one of the Silver Guardian hospital rooms; the staff here were personally selected by my father, so they can be trusted to keep your identity secret."

"Ah… thanks," Jason groaned as he sat back up, tenderly clutching his still-tender side where the Black Guardian's sword had punctured his skin. "Heard anything from the others yet?"

Wes shook his head. "I was a bit preoccupied with getting you to safety, actually; didn't have the time to check back and see if they were doing OK," he said apologetically. "Still, look at it this way; if they'd lost, we'd probably have had to deal with that Malfoy guy already wanting to make a clean sweep of the whole team."

"Good guess," a voice said from outside the room. Glancing up, Jason smiled slightly in relief as he saw Eric and three of the four Hogwarts Guardians walking back into the room; he may not have fought alongside them for long, but he didn't want his third chance at being on a Ranger to be over before it had really had a chance to get started.

"So…" Jason asked, wincing slightly as he sat up but otherwise giving no sign of the pain he felt in his still-healing wound, "how'd the fight go?"

"Well, it wasn't great, but it definitely could have gone a lot worse," Ron sighed, as he indicated Eric. "Thanks to this guy's zord, we were able to make Malfoy retreat, but it looks like he grabbed the horcrux we were looking for from a nearby building as he was bailing out."

"Wait a minute; you needed Eric's zord to beat the guy?" Jason asked, looking curiously over at Harry. "Was something wrong with your zords; I mean, the guy can't be _that _good on his first time out…"

Harry shrugged.

"Well, that depends," he said casually. "He wasn't _that _good at the fighting thing, but he _did _manage to hi-jack Ginny's zord and use it against us; we couldn't form the Guardian Megazord without it, and Ginny was unable to regain control of the thing before Malfoy knocked her out."

"Knocked her _out_?" Jason repeated, sitting up anxiously as he looked at his new team. "How… where is she?"

"Just over there," Wes assured Jason, indicating a nearby bed where Jason could just see the latest Green Ranger's red-haired form. "She took a nasty-looking knock when the Black Megazord tried to fire at them, from what I hear; she just took a glancing blow, but with the kind of force that Malfoy would have been packing?"

He shook his head grimly. "_Damn_… that guy is _tough_…"

Jason shrugged slightly.

"That's evil Rangers for you, Wes; they _never _go down easily," he said, as he looked back at the Red Time Force Ranger. "You're just lucky you never had to deal with one; when Tommy was evil, he came _this _close to destroying the Megazord and making us lose contact with Zordon for good…"

"Sorry; cast list for the new guys?" Ron asked, raising a hand as he looked curiously at the White Ranger. "I mean, I know who Zordon was- guy who helped Gryffindor create the gems in the first place-, but who's Tommy?"

"Oh, sorry; Tommy was the first Green Ranger, and went on to become pretty much the longest-running Ranger _ever_," Jason explained, a slight smile on his face as he remembered the man who'd been like a brother to him in the old days. "Guy spent so long in costume he's worn practically half the Ranger spectrum by now… anyway, what's important is dealing with the _current _issue; how long until I'm back in the game?"

"Well, actually, given your Ranger healing- which is _really _good, by the way; looks like magic really gives you some interesting extra perks that we science-based Rangers don't have-, you should be fine," Wes said, smiling reassuringly at Jason. "Give yourself a couple more hours to cope with the damage and the doctors assure me you'll be back to full health."

"Great," Harry said, nodding briefly at Wes before he looked back at the other bed in the room. "And Ginny?"

"Pretty much the same as Jason; head wounds aren't ever pleasant, but the helmet protected her from the worst of the blast and Ranger healing will have her back up in a little while," Wes assured his successor, giving Harry a brief pat on the shoulder before he turned to look at the rest of the team. "In the meantime, we should probably see what we can do about finding that 'Malfoy' character; if he's got what he came here to protect, he might try and get out of the city at any moment-"

"He won't," Harry interjected, looking authoritatively over at Wes and Eric as he spoke. "Voldemort wouldn't want his horcruxes moved too far from their hiding places, and he _definitely _wouldn't want Malfoy to relocate it; if he doesn't know where it is, he can't guarantee its safety."

"Like it's safe _here_?" Eric pointed out, smirking slightly as he looked at his new friend. "I mean, we had the entire Silver Guardians team hanging around here even _before _you guys showed up…"

"But you didn't know there was anything to _look _for before we showed up and you had no reason to even try and find it," Hermione pointed out, shaking her head slightly as she looked at Eric. "That can make all the difference, Mr Myers; the horcrux may have been here before now, but you wouldn't even have known there was anything interesting about it unless we came here."

"Point," Wes said, nodding at the Blue Ranger before he sighed and glanced back at Harry. "OK then, while we're waiting for the others to get back up, any recommendations about how we find this guy?"

Harry shook his head.

"Nothing's immediately occurring to me off the top of my head to track the horcrux," he said apologetically as he looked back at the Red Time Force Ranger. "All that _is _occurring to me is that, if Malfoy _is _here, he'll definitely want to take the opportunity to make an impact of some sort or another; attack a few humans, that sort of thing."

"Why?" Wes asked.

"Because he can," Harry said simply. "Malfoy's always been convinced that his blood and his magic make him automatically superior to anyone who doesn't have either, and I doubt he'll resist such a perfect opportunity to torment his 'inferiors' now that he has something that clearly the fact that he's consistently outsmarted at school by a muggle-born witch doesn't seem to matter to him that much at school and I've no reason to believe it'll start mattering now."

"Sorry; 'muggle'?" Eric repeated, looking in confusion at his new friend. "What the hell does _that_ mean?"

"Oh, that's a term used in the wizarding world to describe non-magical people; it doesn't really mean anything more than that," Harry assured his new friend, before he glanced over at Wes. "Any chance your Silver Guardians could check around and let us know if there's any reports of some slightly strange disappearances taking place?"

"Sure thing," Wes said, nodding in confirmation before he turned to head for the door, Eric close behind him, leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione to sit alongside Jason.

"Are you sure that you've thought this through, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking inquiringly at her friend. "I mean, I get your reasoning about Malfoy's mentality, but he's always struck me as being a bit of a coward; I don't really see how that ties into him abducting people-"

"He couldn't kill Dumbledore when he had the perfect opportunity to do so, and now he's been entrusted with what may well be Voldemort's single greatest weapon; as far as I can see, he has a lot of reasons to prove himself to everyone, and the only way he can do _that _is by torturing all the 'inferiors' he can find," Harry said, as he glanced back at the Blue Ranger. "Besides, just because he can't kill someone doesn't mean he can't hurt them a lot; he lacks the nerve to do anything _permanent_ to people, but so long as he was careful he could probably torture muggles for ages if he wanted to."

"Point," Ron admitted, nodding in confirmation at his friend.

"Makes sense," Jason agreed, before he glanced over at where Ginny lay, still unconscious, and groaned. "_Damn_…. I _hate _it when that happens."

"What; a Ranger getting injured?" Hermione asked, looking back at Jason in surprise. "I would have thought you'd have gotten used to it by know; you've been a Ranger long enough-"

"That's just it; there's never been much of a _reason _to get used to it before now," Jason explained, as he sighed and lay back in the bed. "I mean, we always took some knocks back in the day, of course, but the worst thing that happened to anybody was when Rocky- my replacement on the team when I had to leave for this World Teen Conference thing some years back- hurt his back in a tournament, and even that was more debilitating rather than actually being potentially _fatal_."

"Ah," Hermione said, nodding briefly in understanding before she looked back at the unconscious Ginny and sighed. "I don't know whether the fact that we got this badly injured that fast means that we're more incompetent than you were or just that we have more vicious bad guys than you did."

"I'd go for the second; at least Zedd and Rita preferred to just beat us rather than actually _torture_ us beforehand," Jason clarified, before he lay back down in bed, rubbing slightly at the still-healing wound in his side. "Still, they're not that much more efficient, at least; give me a little time and I'll be back on my feet, I promise you that."

"Glad to hear it," Harry said, nodding at Jason with a slight smile before his expression became grim as he turned to look out the nearby window. "If Malfoy comes back… we're going to need every available zord to even stand a _chance _at stopping him."

For a moment, the three uninjured Rangers simply stood in silence, and then Ron chuckled slightly.

"Actually, it's kind of amusing when you think about it," he said, noting Harry and Hermione's bemused expressions. "I mean, even when we were at Hogwarts, I never thought I'd actually be in a position where I'd be seeing Malfoy as being a potential _threat_; a pain in the neck, yes, but not a _threat_."

"Amusing up to a point, of course," Hermione countered, before she sighed and glanced back out at the window. "Is it just me, or have our lives been getting increasingly crazier since we got these gems?"

"Crazier?" Harry repeated, smiling slightly over at the Blue Ranger. "Absolutely. But dull? Unproductive?"

He shrugged dismissively. "I definitely wouldn't describe them as _that_."

"Tell me about it; back when I first became a Ranger, between saving the world and trying to pass high school, I almost _welcomed _the chance to join the World Teen Conference," Jason commented, a slight smile on his face as he reflected back on those old days. "I mean, it wasn't exactly easy for me to do all that stuff- it's not like I'm an _instinctively _violent guy, but I'm just not that good at simply _talking _my way out of a problem-, but I still managed to have a decent bit of R&R before I was called back into the game to act as the new Gold Ranger before I hung up my morphers again…"

"Yeah, and then we had to go and drag you back into the game without even asking if you _wanted _to…" Harry groaned, as he slumped into a nearby seat and looked apologetically at Jason. "Y'know, I just _can't _believe that I didn't think to actually ask you how _you _felt about this whole thing from the beginning; we practically had you drag us up a mountain for what you _thought _was going to be a brief trip and you end up getting back in the saddle and dragged away from your new life? What _right _did we have to do that-?"

"You didn't 'make' me do anything I didn't want to; I volunteered," Jason interrupted, looking reassuringly at Harry. "Trust me, if I'd wanted to stay out of this, I had the chance to when Dimitria offered to just heal my neck and leave the White Gem where it was. Besides, my partner in my dojo and my wife are both ex-Rangers themselves; they'll understand why I had to do this and will provide any kind of cover story I might need to explain my absence."

Sitting up in the bed, he reached over to place a reassuring hand on the latest Red Ranger's shoulder, giving him a confident stare as he did so.

"Trust me, Harry," Earth's first Red Ranger said as his new friend turned to look directly at him. "I may have just come here to help you with getting the White Gem, but now that I've got these powers, there's pretty much nowhere else I'd rather be."

After a moment's silence, Harry smiled gratefully back at their team's White Ranger.

"Thanks, Jason," he said. "I… I needed that."

Jason shrugged.

"Leading a Ranger team's never exactly an easy thing; I know what you're having to deal with better than most," he said casually, before he turned back to look at Ron and Hermione. "OK, so does anyone have any ideas about what we're going to do about Malfoy in the next round?"

Hermione sighed.

"Good point; we need a definite _plan _rather than just relying on the Q-Rex to help us survive a second zord battle," she said, as she and Ron slumped down on either side of the end of Jason's bed, Harry remaining in his chair. "I mean, even with the White Dragon added to our side, without full access to the Guardian Megazord, our firepower is significantly retarded. How are we meant to be _sure _we can put him down even with Wes and Eric's help?"

"Yeah, Malfoy's only going to get more experienced the longer he has that thing; we've got to figure out some way to render the gem useless while he's still getting used to it…" Harry muttered, leaning forward to rest his head against his left hand, thoughtfully tapping his index finger against his left eye under his glasses before he raised his head in inspiration. "And I _think _I know how to do that…"


	18. Showdown in Silver Hills

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

A few hours later, Ginny and Jason back to full health and Wes and Eric having been filled in on the Guardian Rangers' latest plan, the combined Time Force/ Hogwarts' Guardians Ranger team were driving through the city in two jeeps, Wes, Jason and Harry in the front one while Eric, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were in the second. Eric was maintaining radio contact with the Silver Guardians back at headquarters in case they ran into any problems that weren't uniquely Malfoy-related- the Silver Guardians had been expressly forbidden to engage the Black Guardian Ranger unless they had absolutely no alternative-, but otherwise, for the moment, they were alone and searching for their enemy.

"Look, once again, are you _sure _this plan's going to work?" Wes asked, looking uncertainly over at Harry as the newest Red Ranger resolutely studied the glowing gem on his wrist, pulsing as they drew ever closer to the horcrux they now sought. "I mean, it's not that I don't think Ron can do it, but… well…"

"You're used to the Red Ranger- or the Pink Ranger; your team's Pink was the team leader, if I remember correctly, right?- being the one who takes the risks in this kind of thing, huh?" Harry asked, smiling slightly up at Wes before his face became more serious once again. "Trust me; if I thought it would improve our chances, I'd take Ron's place in a heartbeat, but the fact remains that, if I'm right, he's the only one who can pull it off."

"And if you're wrong?" Wes asked, looking critically at his new friend as he spoke. "I mean, it's not that I doubt you or anything, but you've got to take into account, I'm used to dealing with mutants from the future; magic and the rules involved are just a _bit _out of my league. Eric and I are pretty much going into this on your word you've got a plan, you know…"

"Hey, I'm taking just as big a chance here as you are, Wes; I'm not a wizard either, remember?" Jason pointed out from the back seat. "Zordon may have been a wizard himself, but my team still didn't really use magic that much on a day-to-day basis; most of the equipment he provided could have been seen as more examples of advanced technology rather than actually magical items."

Wes was about to reply when the gem on Harry's wrist began to glow and fade with a red light in rapid succession, the only clear indication that they were coming close to where the horcrux- and hopefully, by extension, Malfoy- were now located.

When Wes saw where they'd stopped, he couldn't help but wonder if this 'Malfoy' berk knew about the Time Force team's activities back in the day and wanted to rub his 'superiority' in their faces, or if he'd just fallen victim to one of those unlikely-yet-not-impossible coincidences that you heard about but never thought would happen to you.

For whichever of the previously speculated reasons it was, Malfoy had apparently relocated the horcrux to the reconstructed clocktower that had once served as the Time Force Rangers' headquarters for their year in the past; Wes had arranged for it to be rebuilt out of a sentimental need to have some reminders of his time as a Ranger back with him.

"_Damn_…" Jason muttered, glancing over at Wes as the car stopped before the tower; he'd spent some time studying Tommy's files on the subsequent Ranger teams, and was thus one of the few people outside the Time Force team who actually knew where their 'headquarters' had been back when they'd been active. "They really tore this place apart, didn't they?"

"What do you expect?" Wes responded nonchalantly. "We didn't exactly make ourselves popular with the bad guys during our heyday; give them the opportunity to blow up our base, even if we're not in it at the time, and they weren't likely to turn it down."

"And Malfoy's hiding out _here_?" Ron muttered, looking sceptically at the tower before him. "Not exactly what I'd have expected of the prat; with his ego I would've thought he'd prefer something a bit less… ruined, I guess."

"Hiding out in the very place where the last Ranger team here lived for the better part of a year?" Eric pointed out, glancing over at Ron with a slightly pitying smile at the Yellow Guardian Ranger's inexperience. "I'd call that arrogant."

"OK, enough debating of the mental state of a total psycho; can we just get in there and kick his ass already?" Ginny asked, clenching her fists as she glanced over at the Time Force Rangers. "This bastard tried to take control of my zord away from her; I'm in the mood for some _serious _payback right now!"

"Right then," Harry said, as he and the other Guardian Rangers drew their wands, Jason flicking his wrist to activate his gauntlets even as Wes and Eric activated their old morphers. "Let's do this; Gryffindor Guardian, _attivare_!"

"Hufflepuff Guardian, _attivare_!"

"Ravenclaw Guardian, _attivare_!"

"Slytherin Guardian, _attivare_!"

"White Dragon Guardian Power, _now_!"

"Time for Time Force!"

"Quantum Ranger, Quantum Power!"

In a matter of seconds, the Guardian Rangers and their Time Force allies were standing in front of the clocktower, looking resolutely up at the building before them as they drew their weapons.

"_Malfoy_!" Harry yelled, looking up at the damaged clocktower as he clutched his Guardian Blade in his hand. "Interested in a rematch? Or are you too much of a _coward _to tackle us when _we're _the ones coming to go up against _you_?"

For a moment, there was silence, and then, after a momentary glow from inside the clocktower, the now-familiar form of the Black Guardian Ranger leapt out of an upper part of the clocktower and landed before the others, his casual attitude clearly demonstrating his confidence of victory in the upcoming fight.

"You really think you can defeat me _now_?" the dark-clad Slytherin asked, looking mockingly at the seven figures before him. "You could barely handle me when I was using my new powers for the first time; you really think that you have a chance to defeat me now that I _know _what I'm capable of?"

"Correction, you arrogant little _ferret_," Hermione growled, drawing her own blade as she stared resolutely at the Slytherin who dared to corrupt the legacy that they were now a part of by wearing their costumes. "We don't _think _we can beat you; we _know _we can."

"Oh, _really_?" Malfoy chuckled. "Let's find out."

With that, he charged towards him, blade drawn and ready as he slashed and cut away at the opposition gathered before him, only to swiftly realise that his victory was not going to be as simple as it had been last time. During the previous confrontation, the Guardian Rangers and their allies had been caught off-guard by Malfoy's unexpected possession of the Black Guardian powers, but this time around that advantage had been negated, thanks to their previous experience with his combat abilities. Whereas before they'd started off believing Malfoy to be no more than an average wizard, this time around they started searching for him knowing that he possessed the strength and basic combat methods of the standard Power Ranger, and thus anticipated his attack.

Even as Malfoy attempted to slash out at Jason, the White Guardian parried the blade with Saba, sending the Black Guardian spinning away from him just in time to meet a kick from the Green Guardian before the Quantum Ranger punched him in the face. Never having truly fought Jason and Wes before this battle- he'd taken Jason out too quickly during the last fight to really get a feel for Jason's combat style, and Wes had mostly allowed Harry to do the fighting in the initial fight before he'd had to take Jason to safety-, Malfoy swiftly found himself overpowered by Wes's brutal-yet-swift style of combat. The Red Time Force Ranger may not have had much serious combat training, but his more amateur moves in comparison to the others- even after almost four years as a Silver Guardian, there hadn't really been many cases that required him to use his combat skills, and the newer Guardians had acquired an in-depth instinctive knowledge of hand-to-hand combat thanks to Zordon's work on their gems- made it hard for Malfoy to predict what he was going to do.

In many ways- although he'd never have admitted it-, Eric had always privately felt that Wes's amateur fighting skills were far more dangerous than his own trained abilities; trained fighters commonly expected their opponents to react to their actions in a certain way, but Wes's amateur combat skills meant that it was practically impossible to know how he'd react to an attack because he just did what he felt like doing, rather than what he'd been trained to do.

As the Time Force team's former second-in-command- and now joint commander of the Silver Guardians- slashed and kicked at Malfoy with his weapons and his feet, sending their foe staggering back, Eric was pleased to note that, so far, their plan appeared to be working.

Malfoy had only been mad last time, but mad and in pain like he would be when this round of the fight was over?

It didn't guarantee that the more optional stage of their plan to take this guy would be a success, but it definitely improved its chances.

Just as that thought had crossed Eric's mind, Malfoy leapt up and back, moving away from his immediate head-to-head fight with the Rangers to stand almost directly in front of the clock-tower.

"_ENOUGH_!" the wizarding racist roared, glaring in frustration at the team of assorted Rangers gathered before him. "You may think you have the advantage now, but trust me; you _don't_! Dark Warrior Zords, _attivare_!"

No sooner had the words been heard, than the monstrous forms of the three massive dark zords were once again tearing towards them, the ground thundering under their massive weight as they hurtled towards the Rangers before them.

"And if you thought _that _was bad," Malfoy chuckled, as he glared at the small army of Rangers before him, "wait until you see what _else _I've brought to the party! Tengas… _awake_!"

Even as the Black Guardian spoke, a small army of tenga warriors sprang up around him, charging towards the Rangers as they stared at the approaching army.

"You can fight these birds, or you can fight my _zords_!" Malfoy chuckled, as he grinned at the seven Rangers before him. "What's it going to be; the mass property damage, or the potentially dozens of broken homes as my tengas abduct the innocent! You can't do _both_!"

With that, he leapt up into the air, vanishing in a burst of black light as he headed through the air towards his zords.

Exchanging glances, the assorted Rangers smiled grimly.

As always, Malfoy's fatal flaw was his ego; as far as he was concerned, he'd created two potentially devastating problems, believing that neither team would be able to do anything about it as separate groups.

_Nice to know some things never change_, Harry mused to himself as he glanced over at his allies. _Even when he's got the power to win any fight, he's got all the tactical expertise and subtlety of a rampaging rhino_.

"OK, guys," he said, as he looked back at the rest of the team, "Wes, Eric, think you can handle these guys?"

"Do lemmings act like suicidal idiots?" Eric countered.

"I'll take that as a yes," Harry concluded, before he glanced over at the Yellow Guardian. "Just remember, Ron; you've got to get _right _up to Malfoy before you try our strategy, or it's got even less chance of working than it already does-"

"And it's not exactly got a high success rate to start with, has it?" Ron said, allowing himself a slight smile as he studied his Guardian blade before looking back up at his friend. "Well, let's get on with it; the sooner we get that berk down here the better, right?"

"Right," Harry confirmed, turning to face Ginny once again. "You ready, Gin?"

"As I'll ever be," Ginny confirmed, resolutely staring at her gem before she looked back at the approaching dark zords. "Let's show this guy just what being a Ranger is _really _about!"

"Right," Harry said, as he, Hermione, Ginny and Jason turned to stare at their opponents, the three Hogwarts students raising their gems and their wands while Jason held Saba high above his head.

"Guardian Zord power, _attivare_!"

"White Dragon Guardian Zord power, _now_!"

* * *

As the 'Guardian zords'- honestly, why the hell anybody even bothered to create them in the first place Malfoy still couldn't understand; they were absolutely _useless_ when it came to fighting somebody with _real _power- approached him, Malfoy, from his cockpit in the Acromantula zord, simply smirked in satisfaction as he raised his gem, his gaze fixed on the Serpent zord. 

All that would be required was the merest fraction of his concentration, and then-

He froze.

Something wasn't right… something almost seemed to be _blocking _him…

Then he felt something crash into the Acromantula zord from the side and a quick glance in the direction of the impact provided him with the answer he needed.

Not only did he not have control of the Serpent zord, but it was now actually _attacking _him?

"_Surprised_?" the Green Ranger's voice said through what Malfoy vaguely recalled was know to muggles as the 'speakers'; he hated having to use the muggle term, but the fact remained that he didn't have a wizard word that could describe what those things were, so 'speakers' was all he could use. "_You shouldn't be; the rest of the team gave my gem a little power boost before we came down here. It's not enough to be a drain on _them_- since I was borrowing some power from all of them I didn't need that much- but it's evidently enough to bring my zord _permanently _under my control and out of yours_!"

"And you _really _think I won't manage to take control _back _from you?" Malfoy retorted, grinning slightly as he manoeuvred the Cerberus and Basilisk zords to surround the Serpent. "I have enough power to control _three _zords, Miss Weasley; I think it's safe to say that I've got enough power to take _your _zord away from you no matter _what _kind of boost you've had!"

"_Oh, maybe you do have enough power to do that, Malfoy_," Potter's voice suddenly cut in over the 'speakers', "_but do you have enough focus to concentrate on that while also trying to use all _three _of your zords at once_?"

Before Malfoy could respond to that, the Eagle zord crashed into his Cerberus, sending the three-headed zord hurtling backwards as the large blue bird continued to peck and slash at it with its beak and talons. Even as Malfoy mentally commanded the dog to fight back, the red Lion zord and the white Dragon zord crashed into the Basilisk- the largest zord in Malfoy's arsenal-, sending it hurtling backwards a few feet before the Serpent zord struck the Acromantula, hitting it with such force that Malfoy suddenly found himself standing on the ground before his zord, staring up in shock at what had just happened.

"Gotcha," a voice said from behind him.

Glancing back, Malfoy was somewhat disappointed to see that the only person standing there was the idiotic Weasel in his stupid yellow outfit. Hell, even the _muggles _would have been better than this- at least they actually looked like they might be something of a challenge in a fight, even if his magic would still give him the immediate advantage in any struggle-, but _Weasley_?

"Does Potter _really _think you can stop me?" he asked, drawing his blade even as he commanded his zords to continue fighting their opponents behind him. It wouldn't be easy, of course, but he had been taught since birth how to handle himself if he was ever in a dangerous situation, and he had been specially chosen by the Dark Lord himself for this mission; he was confident that he could handle an idiot like _Weasley _easily enough.

"Oh, he doesn't just think I can stop you," Weasley retorted, raising his blade with a nonchalance that Malfoy was confident he was only pretending to possess. "He _knows _that I can."


	19. Round Three: Fall of the Black Ranger

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: OK, I haven't mentioned this earlier, so I should just mention it now; none of _Deathly Hallows_' revelations about the location and nature of the horcruxes or Snape's true allegiances apply here. As a result, Snape's still a bad guy- I'd already planned a major confrontation with him for later and preferred to keep it intact-, and the only unchanged horcruxes are the cup and the locket; the diadem may or may not be changed, Nagini definitely ISN'T a horcrux in this timeline- Voldemort chose something else for the sixth horcrux- and the horcrux-fragment in Harry was 'burnt out' by the purity of the Red Guardian Gem, so it's not an issue for the future. With that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and feel free to ask any further questions you want to know when you review

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Malfoy didn't even pause to think; outraged at the lack of respect Potter and his associates were showing for him- he was a _Malfoy_, for Merlin's sake; he deserved more respect in a fight than to end up tackling an idiot like _this_-, he charged at the Yellow Guardian Ranger before him, kicking out at his opponent's chest in a blow that should leave this idiot winded and easy prey for another attack…

Only for the 'Guardian' to reach up, grab his leg by the ankle the moment he was within arm's reach, and hurl him into the wall of the nearby clocktower before he'd even had time to realise the fool had moved.

Malfoy hadn't thought he could be more angry than he'd been prior to that point, but as he hauled himself to his feet and saw the yellow-clad idiot looking at him in a manner that Malfoy was confident was mocking him under that stupid helmet, he knew that his rage had just hit a new high.

"You _dare _to mock _me_?" he roared, raising his blade as he glared at his adversary under his helmet. "I will _destroy _you for your impudence!"

"Sorry, I think I missed something; I'm actually _meant _to respect you for something?" Ron asked, looking at his old school enemy with a slight smirk evident under his helmet. "I may have found you annoying at school, but I never respected you for anything; I always thought you were just a git who couldn't shut up."

"SILENCE!" Malfoy roared as he charged towards Weasley once again, raising his sword to attack his opponent with a slash that was aimed directly at the yellow-clad idiot's neck…

To say he was shocked when his foe managed to casually raise his own blade to parry the blow was an understatement.

"Instinctive combat knowledge combined with the lessons Jason gave us in his spare time," Weasley explained, sounding annoyingly pleased with himself under his helmet as he casually held his blade in a position where Malfoy's own blade was currently trying to advance far enough to cut through this moron's throat. "We still haven't quite got the hang of using these things in a fight when we're all there- it's a bit tricky to make sure you don't end up hitting somebody else, you know- but one-on-one?"

He chuckled. "Amateurs like you're easy."

Malfoy couldn't believe it.

Here he was, the most powerful Ranger ever to walk this planet, empowered by the Dark Lord himself… and this fool was _mocking _him?

"HOW DARE YOU!" he roared, exerting all his strength to break away from his opponent, subsequently lashing out at his foe's chest with a powerful kick that sent the Yellow Guardian staggering back. Grinning in triumph, Malfoy brought the blade down towards his foe's chest once again, only for his adversary to bring the blade up and block it once again.

In a desperate rage, Malfoy began to desperately slash away at his yellow-clad opponent, shifting the angle and direction of the sword's attack with each blow, only to find that his opponent had a seemingly instant counter for every assault he attempted. It didn't matter how fast he was moving or how random his attacks were, his yellow-clad adversary seemingly instantly managed to parry the attack before it could reach him, often managing to land his own blow on his adversary in the process. Any blows that Malfoy managed to land seemed to be due to luck rather than actual judgement on his part, while Weasley seemed to be able to hold his own with almost practiced ease despite Malfoy knowing that the Guardian Blade was the first actual weapon this idiot before him had ever owned.

If anything, that fact made Malfoy even madder than he'd been already.

If he could just divert a bit more energy to this fight, he _might _have a chance…

Then he heard a loud crash from off to the side as two of the zords collided with each other, and forced his power back where he'd been drawing it from.

It might mean that his immediate struggle would last longer- he winced slightly as one of Weasley's attacks came dangerously close to his chest; he had to admit that this idiot's skills were rather impressive for an amateur-, but he was _not _going to let Potter and his associates defeat his zords…

* * *

"WHOA!" Harry yelled, narrowly avoiding the Acromantula's sharp legs as they slashed out at the Lion's armour, his zord desperately rolling along the ground as the White Dragon lashed out at the massive black spider zord. The Acromantula was by no means the fastest zord in Malfoy's arsenal- that particular honour went to the Basilisk; its sheer length was compensated for by its relatively thin design, making it surprisingly agile in a confrontation-, but its sharp legs more than compensated for its slow speed.

As the Lion zord scrambled back to its feet, Harry risked a quick glance at his allies, and noticed that so far their strategy appeared to be working out as well as he could have hoped. The Eagle was persistently dive-bombing the Cerberus zord successfully enough, lashing out with its talons whenever it got in close and tearing back up before the large dog-like zord could orientate itself enough to attack, while the Serpent and the Basilisk engaged in a tangled confrontation which seemed to consist of the two of them trying to coil themselves around each other as much as possible and crush their opponents into submission. Neither strategy currently appeared to be meeting with much success, but in all fairness Harry was only doing marginally better against the acromantula, and even that was only because he had Jason available to help him fight the sucker. The White Ranger's zord was currently hovering above the acromantula and generally trying to keep it distracted while the Lion tried to land its own blows on its current opponent; the large spider-like zord was surprisingly agile for its bulk, but with two opponents to deal with it was having a difficult time landing an effective blow on its opponents.

_So far so good_, Harry mused to himself, as the Eagle narrowly avoided another attack from the Cerberus zord that could have potentially taken a wing off. _We've got Malfoy on the ropes; all we need to do is keep up the pressure_…

Studying the scene before him, Harry smiled slightly as he saw Malfoy slashing wildly away at Ron down on the ground. Malfoy was clearly relatively skilled at using the Guardian Blade- most likely a combination of the instinctive knowledge the gems provided their users with and some of the lessons he must have taken in his life; pure-bloods were apparently expected to be skilled with any weapon that might arise-, but evidently either he hadn't paid enough attention to the lessons or the combat knowledge the Gem gave him was only basic, as it was clear to him from where he was watching the fight that Ron was dominating the struggle.

Of course, Harry doubted that Malfoy was acknowledging that particular fact; most likely he was convinced that Ron had some unfair advantage or was just on a bit of a lucky streak, and was continuing to fight because he was sure that his foe's luck would run out eventually.

It was kind of pathetic, really, Harry mused to himself as he launched the Lion forward to slash at the Acromantula once again, managing to land a decent blow on its head before he moved the zord backwards to avoid it being struck by one of the dark zord's legs. Even when Malfoy had enough power to go up against any of them in a fight, he still lacked the one quality that would be required to make him a great fighter; he didn't respect how dangerous his opponents could be in a fight.

Admittedly, Harry's view of the fight from his zord wasn't that great, but from what he could see, the Black Guardian's rage at the ease with which Ron was holding him off alone made it clear to Harry that Malfoy couldn't believe the Yellow Guardian's skills with a sword in the current fight, which meant that he'd never take any fight seriously enough to be a truly dangerous opponent. It was Malfoy's constant flaw, really; he was so convinced of his own superiority that he never seemed to put that much effort into fighting with his 'inferiors' because he was convinced that he'd win from the moment the fight began.

As the White Dragon launched a burst of what Harry could only think of as fire at the Acromantula- although its vivid blue colour suggested to Harry that there was probably some other term for it that he didn't know at the moment-, the Red Guardian smiled grimly under his helmet.

Given how thoroughly he and his teammates seemed to be defeating Malfoy's zords at the moment- the Basilisk zord in particular had already taken quite a few bites from Ginny's serpent; a disadvantage of being larger than its foe meant that there was more of it to attack-, Harry had little doubt that their latest Ranger-related adversary would be dealt with soon enough.

The zords were tough on their own and in a direct fight, of course, but with their current hit-and-run strategy?

It just further proved what Harry had been thinking about Malfoy earlier; the twat was so confident that his power would allow him to win that he had no real idea how to think defensively against an attack like this.

"WHY! WON'T! YOU! SURRENDER!" Malfoy roared as he continued to hack away at his adversary, Ron continuing to parry his blows before they could come close enough to do any damage.

"Uh… shouldn't I be asking you that?" Ron asked, smirking slightly at the man before him as he avoided another attack. "After all, you _are _the one who's losing here; I'm actually coping quite well with the situation as it currently stands, thanks…"

"_DO NOT DISRESPECT THE DARK LORD'S CHOSEN WARRIOR_!" Malfoy roared, lashing out with a forward thrust of his sword that came dangerously close to impaling the Yellow Guardian right in the chest; Ron only just managed to twist out of harm's way at the last moment.

It was that last attack, if nothing else, that finally drove Ron to end this conflict; he'd been having a bit of fun showing Malfoy that he wasn't as tough as he liked to think, but things were getting far too dangerous for his comfort right now.

Besides, from what he could see of his allies, the zord fight was currently locked in a stalemate, and he wasn't entirely sure how much longer Wes and Eric could keep fighting off those damn tengas by themselves; the bird warriors may look kind of stupid, but they could definitely put up a good fight when they had to.

It was now or never.

Before Malfoy could realise what was happening, Ron had grabbed his outstretched arm just as the would-be evil Ranger was lunging forward again, simultaneously spinning around to trap Malfoy's arm against his body, the gauntlet containing Malfoy's Guardian Gem clearly visible in front of Ron as Malfoy tried desperately to twist the blade in his hand so that it was pointing at his opponent. Before Malfoy could even begin to think of a more effective way for him to retaliate, Ron had pointed the tip of his Guardian Blade at the Black Gem and bellowed out, "_Expecto Patronum_!"

Instantly, the Gem on Malfoy's wrist suddenly appeared to shift colour from black to white, as the positive energy of the powerful spell that was currently being channelled through it, amplified even further by the simple straightforward yet powerful nature of Ron's belief in the rightness of their cause- he might be an emotional idiot at times, but his devotion to his friends in a fight like this was absolute no matter what-, began to fundamentally change the Gem on the fundamental level of its magical nature, the dark nature of the Gem twisting and reshaping itself as Ron concentrated every available iota of his magical energy into the spell he was currently casting…

"NO!" Malfoy roared in rage, trying to move to attack his opponent even as the grip Ron currently had on his arm made it impossible for him to do so. "YOU _CAN'T_-!"

"If you're trying to say 'you can't do this, Weasel'," Ron said, looking up at Malfoy with a smirk on his face, "guess what? When it comes to your opinion of what I can or can't do, I. _Don't_. _CARE_."

Before Malfoy could mumble any kind of response to that, the Gem on his wrist suddenly glowed with a brilliant white light, overshadowing anything that it or its fellow Gems had generated in the past. Even as Malfoy watched in horror and Ron watched in awe, the Gem literally detached itself from Malfoy's wrist, hovered above it for a few seconds, and then hurtled away into the sky, leaving Ron and Malfoy staring bemusedly after it for a few moments.

Then Malfoy's Ranger costume suddenly vanished, leaving him clad once again in wizarding robes and simply clutching his wand, prompting Ron to end the spell as he smirked slightly at his old rival.

"Well," he said, trying not to start laughing out loud at the expression of horror currently on Malfoy's face as he released his grip on his opponent and stepped back, "I don't know quite what I was expecting would happen, but _that _definitely wasn't it; looks like I made the gem reject you."

At that, Malfoy seemed to literally explode.

"YOU STOLE MY POWER!" he roared, breaking out of Ron's grip as he pulled out his hand. "_CRUCIO_!"

Ron almost felt like yawning as he casually raised his Guardian Blade to absorb the powerful dark curse before it even came close to touching him.

"Malfoy…" he groaned as he lowered the blade, now practically humming with power from the curse it had just absorbed, "I just got rid of your Gem- the only that was letting you compete against me and the others on anything _like _an equal footing-, and you honestly think you've got a chance of stopping me _without _it? What are you, nuts?"

Then he seemed to pause as though he was thinking about what he'd just said, and shook his head. "Wait; don't answer that."

"RARGH!" Malfoy roared, charging wildly towards the Yellow Guardian as though he was going to try and attack the man with his bare hands.

Ron didn't even bother using a spell; tossing the Guardian Blade to one side- it wasn't like the tengas would be able to use it even if they had the brains to do so; it was designed to shock anyone who tried to wield it without the permission of the true owner-, he shifted into a combat stance, waited for a few seconds, and then, as soon as Malfoy came within reach, he grabbed the Slytherin's outstretched arms and hurled his opponent over his shoulder, allowing himself a slight smirk as Malfoy winced in pain from the impact.

"Seriously," Ron said, shaking his head slightly as he studied Malfoy, face now contorted in pain as he shifted slightly, clearly trying to avoid getting into a position where his back would be in prolonged contact with the ground, "will you just _stop _this? You're embarrassing everyone involved in this fight- and I'm _including _you in that, by the way; you really don't get the picture about when you should stop fighting and surrender, do you?- by trying to keep on doing it; why don't you just quit now and save _everyone _the embarrassment?"

"NEVER!" Malfoy roared, charging towards Ron again. Sighing slightly in an almost pitying manner, Ron waited for Malfoy to come as close to him as possible, then neatly stepped aside and hit him on the back of the neck using a move that Jason had taught them on the way here. Instantly Malfoy crumpled to the ground in a heap, all consciousness lost.

Ron didn't pretend to understand how that move could have knocked somebody out, but he supposed that was the beauty of martial arts; they could pull off some very surprising stuff for something that didn't even remotely depend on magic. To make sure their opponent remained out of it, however, he quickly cast a Body-Bind curse on Malfoy while he was lying unconscious; they'd probably drop him off at Azkaban or something like that later.

"You OK?" a voice said from off to the side. Glancing over, Ron smiled slightly under his helmet as he saw Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Jason standing beside him, their zords retreating back to wherever the zords went when they weren't in use; evidently the Dark Zords had pulled back when the Black Gem had powered down.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ron replied, nodding briefly at the others before he turned back to Wes and Eric. To his surprise, the two Rangers were currently standing alone, no longer surrounded by Tengas and looking up in surprise at some faint black specks in the sky that the Yellow Guardian could only assume were the tengas that the two Time Force Rangers had been fighting earlier.

Looking back over at their allies, the Red and Quantum Rangers shook her heads slightly as the two groups walked over to join each other at the base of the tower.

"Ron, did you _have _to cut the fight short like that?" Eric asked, looking at Ron in what would almost certainly have been a frustrated expression on his face if the face had been visible. "I was just starting to get the hang of things there…"

"Hey, if it's a choice between having fun or helping to put down the currently nigh-on-immortal magic-wielding psychopath, I'll take putting down the psycho every day of the week, Eric," Wes stated as he glanced over at his friend. "And I know you'd do the same, by the way; don't even _think _about trying to claim otherwise."

For a moment it looked like Eric was about to object, but in the end he simply shook his head and smiled slightly at his old friend under his helmet.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said simply, before he turned back to look at the tower before him. "So, what about this 'horcrux' thing you mentioned you were looking for here?"

"Oh, that's simple enough," Harry said, raising his gauntlet to indicate the glowing Red Gem on his wrist. "We just need to get inside the tower and see where this thing glows the brightest; that should be where the horcrux is."

"As for what it looks like," Hermione added, as she glanced slightly apologetically over at their new allies. "we can't be sure on that front, unfortunately; we have some theories regarding the items Voldemort used to create his horcruxes, but nothing definite."

"Ah," Wes said, before he shrugged and looked up at the tower before them. "Well, let's get inside and take a look around; shouldn't be that difficult to spot something new after the state this place was in after the last fight."

* * *

After walking through the small office in the entrance, the seven Rangers walked up the flights of stairs- all fortunately still mostly intact; the damage when Wes had triggered the self-destruct had been mainly concentrated on the Rangers' old living quarters, and the lower parts had been at least partially repaired in the aftermath of the battle-, until they arrived in the main room of the old clocktower.

Staring around the place that had been his home for the better part of a year, Wes was unable to stop a slightly wistful sigh as he looked at the remnants of the personal possessions he and his friends had accumulated over the course of the year. Alex may have tried to encourage them to stay professional rather than acclimatising to their new time frame, but Wes had always felt that, in many ways, their willingness to adapt was what had made them such a great team in the first place; sticking to orders was all well and good, but there were times when the usual way of doing things just didn't work, and getting stuck on a long-term basis over a thousand years in the past was definitely one of them.

"Hey," a voice said from off to the side, prompting Wes to break his train of thought and look over at the White Ranger (And he still couldn't quite get used to thinking of the first Red Ranger as being in White now; how often did the original team members change colours anyway?). "You OK?"

"Just… memories, I guess," Wes said, shrugging slightly as he looked over at the other Guardians, who were each studying their Gems and waving their gauntleted arms around like some kind of radiation detectors. "Found anything?"

"Not yet," Jason said, sounding slightly frustrated as he studied the rubble around him that had filled the clock tower since it had been abandoned. "The only consolation is that Malfoy wouldn't have had the time to set up any kind of defences around wherever he stuck the thing; he'd have been operating purely on the idea of just keeping it here until he could move it to a more convenient location where he'd have the time to properly protect it."

"Well, that's _something_, I suppose…" Wes muttered, turning away from the first Red Ranger to study his surroundings once again, only for his eyes to instantly fall on a small golden cup with two finely wrought handles, standing on a small pile of rubble just where a faint beam of sunlight could strike it.

The sight of the badger on the cup- the gold instantly recalling Ron Weasley's zord and costume to mind- was all Wes needed to make the connection.

"Hey!" he said, turning to look at the other Rangers. "I think we've got one here!"

"_What_?" Harry said, spinning around and hurrying over, staring incredulously at the cup before him for a moment before he slapped his hand against his helmet in frustration. "_God_… how did we miss _that_?"

"Well… it _is _kinda close to the entrance," Wes said by way of explanation, indicating the stairway entrance near where the cup was standing. "I only noticed it 'cause I was looking around the whole place; maybe you just figured Malfoy would dump it somewhere in the main part of the tower rather than just over here like this."

"Point," Ginny admitted, a slight trace of amusement clear in her voice before it faded as she studied the cup. "So… now that we've got it, how do we destroy it?"

Hermione sighed.

"_That's _where it's not that easy, I'm afraid," she said, shaking her head apologetically as she looked at h the others. "Horcruxes aren't that easy to destroy; the magic that created them also works hard to keep them intact. The only way to guarantee that they won't knit themselves back together is to hit them with something so powerful that there's absolutely no way of repairing it magically; Harry's use of basilisk venom to take out the diary worked because that can only be cured by phoenix tears, but that aside…"

She shook her head in frustration. "I can't think of a _thing _we have that could do that much damage…"

"Right then; allow me," Eric said, stepping forward slightly and raising his own gauntlet to his face. "Mega Battle Armour, _activate_!"

No sooner had the words left Eric's mouth than he was struck by a beam of red energy, the beam swiftly fading to reveal Eric now dressed in what looked like an extremely high-tech armour of some kind. He was now wearing what the wizard members of the Hogwarts Guardians could only think of as overly large metal shoes, a gold chest-plate with a large red arrow on it, a large glass visor extending over his helmet, and what looked like metal wings on his back.

Chuckling slightly at the stunned appearances of the magical Guardians, Eric removed the wings from his back and connected them together to form a large blade, before he turned to his new allies.

"Meet the Mega Battle Armour; my own personal little upgrade," he said by way of explanation, unable to keep a slight sense of pride out of his voice as he spoke. "Given that this blade can take out monsters even when they're giant-sized and I'm just normal, I think it should be tough enough for what's required here, right?"

Hermione could only stare at the weapon in her new ally's hand.

"Uh… that _could _do it, I guess…" she said, nodding uncertainly after a moment's pause. "I don't know how powerful your weapon is compared to magic, of course, but if it can take out something as large as what we've encountered so far when Voldemort's made his monsters grow, I think it _should _be enough…"

"Right then," Eric said, walking forward resolutely to stand almost directly in front of the cup. "Stand back; this thing can go on a really wide spin if I'm not paying _exact _attention."

Raising the blade, Eric paused for a moment, clearly wanting to make sure he got the aim exactly right, and then he swung at the horcrux with his blade. The powerful weapon struck the cup directly, causing it to suddenly explode almost as soon as the weapon had made contact with it, leaving only a faint feeling of darkness that spread across the Rangers gathered in the clocktower momentarily before it finally vanished.

_One down_, Harry said, smiling in satisfaction under his helmet as he studied the sight before him, knowing that his friends felt the same way. _Three to go_.

"So," Wes said after a moment's silence, looking over at the Hogwarts Guardians as they stood silently staring at the remnants of the horcrux they'd just destroyed, "where are you guys going now?"

Harry shrugged slightly.

"Wherever we think there might be a horcrux," he said simply as he looked back at the Quantum Ranger, a resolved expression on his face. "We already know that there was one here, but I'm pretty sure that Voldemort wouldn't have put it here originally; I'm thinking he might have relocated them after he acquired Rita's wand for some reason."

"Anything we can do to help?" Eric asked, looking inquiringly at his and Wes's new friends.

Harry shook his head.

"Not that I can think of, really," he said, looking slightly apologetically at the two Time Force Rangers. "But trust us; we're grateful for what you've done for us while we're here, and we really do appreciate your help."

Wes smiled slightly at that as he walked forward, holding out his hand to shake Harry's.

"Any time," he said simply. "After all, what's the point of being a Ranger if you can't call on past Rangers for help when the going gets tough?"

"True," Jason commented, smiling slightly at his two old friends (Well, he'd known them longer than he'd known the other Hogwarts Guardians; that pretty much made them 'old' by definition) before he turned to look at his new team. "Well, we'd best be off; from what you told me, there's still three horcruxes left out there."

"Correct," Hermione said, nodding briefly at the White Ranger before she turned back to look at the Red and Quantum Time Force Rangers. "Well... it's been fun, but we have to get going; evil wizards to vanquish, you know how it goes."

It was only when they were part-way down the stairs that something occurred to Wes, prompting him to glance back at Ron.

"Hey, what happened to that Black Gem anyway?" the Red Time Force Ranger asked, looking curiously at the Yellow Hogwarts Guardian Ranger.

For a moment, Ron looked like he was about to reply, but then paused as the implications of the question sunk in.

"Uh… actually, I don't know," he said, looking slightly sheepish as he glanced at Wes. "I mean, I know what I _did_, of course- I… well, I basically converted the Gem to be one of the good gems rather than their evil twin, causing it to reject Malfoy because he didn't fit the qualities it wanted in an owner any more- but where it went afterwards…"

He shrugged helplessly. "I just don't know, really."

"_Great_…" Eric groaned, clasping his head in one hand as they walked. "So you're telling me you could just end up facing that guy _again_ if Voldemort finds that thing? Well, that's just-"

"No we won't," Ron countered, sounding slightly happier once again. "I turned the gem _good_, remember? Even if Voldemort found it, it wouldn't work for any of his followers if he tried to give it to them; it'll only work for somebody on _our _side…"

He paused for a moment as he reflected on his previous statement, and then shrugged. "Well, at least for somebody who'd fight with us if we met them; there's really no way to know _where _the thing landed, so whether the owner would ever have the opportunity to fight with us is anyone's guess…"

* * *

Miles away, its flight propelled by a strange combination of magic and destiny, the Black Guardian Gem gleamed in the sunlight as a young woman bent down to study it where it lay on the ground, a thoughtful expression on her face.

_Could it be…?_ she thought to herself, memories of a long-lost wish and an old schoolgirl crush filling her thoughts as she stared at the Gem. _It's not like what he had, of course, but it _does _look a bit like something others used after him…_

Her mind made up, she reached out for the Gem and grasped it in one hand, a brilliant burst of light subsequently emitting from the Gem as she did so…

* * *

AN 2: And there we have it; the new Black Ranger has been created! As for who she is… all I'll say is that she had a bit of a role in _Power Rangers in Space_, but she wasn't a Ranger herself (And it's _not _Karone, just to clear that up straight away). PR fans may or may not know her- I had to do a bit of research before I decided who to give the Gem to, and she's a relatively minor character in the overal scheme of things anyway-, but I'll fill everyone in on her backstory when the time comes for her to be introduced. In the meantime, just wait and see… 


	20. The Coming of Basiliskdor

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: OK then, with the immediate threat of the Black Guardian vanquished, we're moving on to a more traditional Power Ranger format of a new monster for every fight, preferably based on magical creatures or experiences that Harry's encountered over the years for the next few chapters, like the Uber-Dementor or the monster encountered here. If anyone has any particular kind of monster they'd like to see, let me know about it and I'll see what I can do

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As Voldemort sat in his throne, staring grimly at the staff that had provided him with more power than even he could have imagined possessing prior to its discovery, he cursed his poor decision when it came to the Malfoy boy.

He should have known from the beginning that the boy was too weak to wield the power of the Black Gem; Voldemort had hoped that the brat's long experience with Potter would have provided him with a certain edge when it came to going up against the new 'leader' of the so-called Hogwarts Guardians, but evidently he had been wrong. Lucius's wealth and status made him a powerful ally in the political field that Voldemort himself had often had trouble dealing with- his lack of any official pure-blood-based authority, despite his status as the heir to the Slytherin line, had put him at a disadvantage if he should ever seek to use more legal means to achieve the power that was his by right, which had meant that he had never been particularly interested in entering into a political field-, but clearly he had failed to pass on the ruthlessness that had made him particularly effective in battle to his son over the years that Voldemort had been… incapacitated.

There was no other way for it; if he was ever going to triumph over Harry and his 'friends'- how could the person who was meant to defeat him be so foolish as to rely on others; didn't Harry _know _that the only person one could trust exclusively in this life was yourself?- now, he would have to create more powerful but less independent creations.

Of course, what he would use against them to accomplish that goal was a relatively easy problem to answer; in his own way, he had a certain sentimental streak about him, particularly when it concerned the events and eliminations- they couldn't be considered 'murders'; even as a child he had only killed those who were too weak or too foolish to truly understand how the world worked- that had moulded him into the man he was today.

As a result of that, it seemed only right to him that he eliminate these new foes- the only foes he had left who had any chance of posing any kind of a threat to him- with the aid of all that was left of the creature that had started him on his path to his current position in life.

Reaching into a box where he kept key artefacts that he had gathered to himself over the years and that he took care to always keep near him, the man once known as Tom Riddle removed the dark green scale that was all that he had kept of the basilisk he had unleashed in his sixth year- he would have to remember to ask how Harry had killed the creature when it had been unleashed in his second year; that had been a particularly remarkable feat, as much as he didn't like to admit to the successes of others in defeating his schemes.

Raising the staff over it, he concentrated his power- the lack of a need to use specific spells to achieve what he desired to accomplish was something that he was particularly fond of when using this staff-, grinning slightly as he watched his latest creation manifest itself.

He had to sacrifice its ability to kill instantly if it was going to work on a long-term basis, of course- how would he manage to control it if he himself was incapable of looking directly at it for even a second?-, but he was confident that the extra abilities he would provide it with would be more than sufficient to make up for that particular shortcoming.

Besides, if nothing else, he felt that he would rather enjoy the idea of working in a few… delays, he supposed was the best term… to the creature's power.

After all, simply killing an opponent in a few seconds left them little time to fully appreciate the sheer scale of the loss that they'd just suffered, but allowing them some time before their demise, during which they could foolishly search for a 'cure' for their condition, only to realise near the end that there was none?

Voldemort had a strong feeling that he would enjoy the sight of his enemies futilely fighting their fate almost as much as he would enjoy seeing them actually die…

* * *

About an hour after they'd departed from Silver Hills in Jason's jeep- they had remained there overnight to give the younger Rangers time to rest after their latest battle, as well as to pick up a few necessary long-term items such as sleepwear, camping and cooking equipment that they hadn't had time to purchase earlier-, Jason finally decided to address the issue that had been bothering him since the battle with the Dark Guardian had ended.

"So…" he asked, looking inquiringly over at Harry, who was currently sitting in the front seat beside him as they drove towards a nearby town to rest before trying to find the next horcrux (Given that Voldemort would be focused on finding them before they could destroy any more horcruxes, Harry hadn't wanted to spend more time in one place than he had to), "you sure that we won't have to worry about Malfoy or the Gem any more?"

"Trust me; Ron's got his problems at times, but when he believes something, it takes something _pretty _big to make him think something else," Harry said, the smile on his face taking away some of the bitterness of the reminder of Ron's refusal to believe Harry when Crouch entered him into the Triwizard Tournament against his will. "We kicked some ass, took some names, and rendered that gem of Malfoy's totally useless to Voldemort's side; it'll be fine, trust me."

"And the reason it went off flying like that rather than staying here where we could take it along and find someone worthy of using it for our side was _because_…?" Ginny asked, raising a critical eyebrow as she looked over at her brother.

For a moment Ron looked as though he was about to say something in his defence, but in the end he simply sighed and slumped back in his seat in frustration. "OK, so I didn't exactly think about taking the thing _myself _when I tried that stunt; I was more focused on making sure Malfoy couldn't get his hands on it afterwards and try and turn it back at the time…"

"Hey, don't worry about it, Ron; heat of battle, it's sometimes easy to do stuff we regret afterwards," Jason said, reaching over to give Ron a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You think you made a mistake there, you should've seen Carlos after his battle with Lizwizard; now there was a man who _really _felt he'd screwed up…"

"Sorry; who's battle with what?" Hermione asked, looking over at Jason in confusion.

"Oh, sorry; Carlos was the second Green Turbo Ranger and the Black Space Ranger, and Lizwizard was a monster who could switch places with people," Jason explained. "I heard all about it from the second Black Ranger- Adam Park; we spent a bit of time together when I joined the team for the second time when another Ranger needed someone to host his powers after he was injured by bounty hunters- during the last Ranger reunion. Apparently, during his first battle with the Space Rangers, Lizwizard tricked Carlos into attacking his team's Pink Ranger by switching places with her just before Carlos could attack, leaving Carlos in a bit of a self-doubting funk until Adam gave him some extra training to help him get over it; when he tried repeating the same stunt with Adam later, Carlos just vaulted over Adam and hit Lizwizard instead."

"Ah," Ron said simply, remaining silent for a few seconds before he shrugged.

"Good point on that front, really; I may have made a bit of a mistake, but at least I didn't actually hurt anybody… well, except Malfoy, of course."

"Quite," Hermione said, smiling slightly before she glanced at the road ahead and smiled slightly. "Hey, we're nearly there!"

Glancing ahead- the motorway had been fairly quiet at present so Jason had taken advantage of being on a straight stretch to look back at the other Rangers as he talked with them-, the current White Ranger saw that Hermione was right; the next town on the road they were currently on was already visible a mile or so ahead of them.

"Perfect," he said, nodding slightly in approval as the car drew closer to the town's outskirts; the place was small enough that it would be fairly easy for them to find somewhere to stay once they started looking, but at the same time big enough that they could probably find somewhere where they could stay hidden easily enough. "OK everyone, keep your eyes peeled for a hotel; I don't know about you, but if we're going to be going over potential horcrux locations I think we could use a rest in an actual _bed _rather than the car."

"Tell me about it…" Ron muttered, rubbing his neck slightly as he turned his attention to looking out the window before another thought seemed to occur to him. "Uh, what kind of… price range are we talking about here? I mean, Ginny and I don't exactly use muggle money that often, Harry's family never really gave him any for _himself_, and I really don't what Hermione's budget is…"

"Oh, no worries; I've got it covered," Jason said, looking reassuringly back at the Yellow Ranger briefly before he turned his attention back to the road. "I called Rocky while you guys were taking a break; so long as we don't start staying in the most expensive hotels you see, I think I can safely say we're covered financially."

"You make a lot of money?" Ginny asked, looking over at Jason inquiringly.

"Hey, owning a dojo's surprisingly profitable down in Angel Grove," Jason said nonchalantly. "After spending almost six years being pretty much grand central for attacks by everything from Putties to Quantrons, everyone really got into the self-defence thing, and they still keep it up even after the Rangers moved on to other cities."

"On that topic," Hermione asked, looking over at the man who she was already beginning to respect as a friend despite not having known him for that long, "do the people at the dojo actually _know _that you're… y'know…"

"The original Red Ranger?" Jason asked, smiling slightly as he turned a corner. "Rocky and I think they might suspect something at least- the fact that he and I had some of the training rooms painted in our Ranger colours is a pretty big clue, I admit; we were feeling a bit sentimental and don't really feel like changing it- but nobody's ever explicitly asked either of us if we were, so we just don't bring it up. The Space Ranger team did reveal their identities during the final battle against Dark Spectre and Astronema's forces, but that's about it; everyone else from before that era just preferred to remain in anonymous retirement with only other Rangers knowing who they were."

"As I recall from news reports the Lightspeed Rescue team's identities were public from the moment they started," Hermione pointed out, looking curiously at Jason as she spoke.

"I said everyone _before _the Space Rangers prefer to keep it secret; everyone after that generally just does what they want regarding the identity thing," Jason clarified with a slight smile, before he pulled up in front of a likely-looking hotel with a slight smile. "How's this?"

Glancing up at the building before them, the rest of the Rangers had to admit that their 'mentor' had chosen well; the hotel they were currently in front of was a large building made of pale yellow stone, with a large foyer visible through the glass doors and several windows spread out along the front of it. In general, it managed to look elaborate without appearing too expensive, with what 'decoration' it had at the front being impressive- the occasional statue and various pillars arranged around the front doors created an imposing image to say the least- without appearing too pretentious.

"Looks all right to me," Harry said at last, exchanging brief glances with the rest of the team and receiving a confirming nod from them all. "Let's take it."

* * *

A few minutes later, two rooms booked and their meagre possessions unpacked, the group sat in Jason, Harry and Ron's room, relaxing on the beds or in the chairs as they contemplated their next move and discussed some of their past adventures.

"Hold on a minute; you're seriously telling me that this… 'Zedd' guy thought that you could be taken out by a monster that was essentially a giant _lipstick_?" Ron repeated, looking incredulously at the original Red Ranger. "I mean, what was he thinking?"

"Tell me about it; I think after Tommy came back as the White Ranger he was pretty much operating out of sheer desperation for a while rather than actually trying to _think _about what he was doing," Jason replied, smiling slightly as he relaxed on the bed and reflected about the old days when he and his team had begun Earth's long history with the Power Rangers. "I mean, trying to put Tommy up against a bunch of old monsters that we'd already defeated once wasn't exactly the smartest thing he'd ever done when you think about it; the only half-decent opponent we actually fought at that point was Magnetbrain, and to be perfectly fair he was technically Billy's idea-"

"Hold on; Billy?" Hermione repeated, looking at Jason in confusion. "I thought Billy was the original Blue Ranger; why would he give _Zedd_ an idea?"

"It wasn't intentional, obviously; Billy was just experimenting with a magnet as part of a science project and it inspired Zedd to try and create something to warp the Earth's gravity," Jason explained, shaking his head slightly as he recalled some of the monsters he and his friends had faced back at that period of their lives. "Still, as I said, that guy aside Zedd's monsters really pretty much sucked until he and Rita joined forces to fight us; even this one attempt to make his own evil Ninjas only resulted in us gaining new Rangers to take the place of me and two of the others when we had to leave Angel Grove for a while."

"Not _quite _what he was after, huh?" Ron asked, smiling slightly at Jason's story. "Sounds like this guy just got a bit desperate after a while, huh?"

"Well, in his defence, he _could _come up with some interesting monsters or problems for us; they just tended to be outnumbered by the dumb ones," Jason responded. "I mean, this one 'Octophantom' monster he created was a pretty tough sucker- the guy stole most of our powers and only lost in the end because he was ridiculously vain-, and there was also the likes of Turbanshell and Nimrod that posed some particular problems, but, as I said, before he and Rita started working together their monsters tended to be primarily dumb idiots with only a couple of particularly dangerous suckers now and again."

"Still, must have been kind of fun back then, right?" Ginny put in, looking curiously over at the White Guardian Ranger. "I mean, on the go week to week, calling upon giant machines to save the world, wielding incredible power against the bad guys…"

Leaning back on the bed to stare up at the ceiling, Jason smiled slightly as he allowed himself to reflect back on the old days.

"Yeah… it wasn't always a piece of cake- even the dumb ones could do some damage before we took them down- but it was _always _interesting," he admitted, turning his gaze back to the glowing white gem that he now wore on his wrist. "Have to admit, it's good to be back in the…"

As his voice trailed off, the other Rangers only needed to glance at their own gems to confirm what the problem was; _all _of their gems were now glowing. It wasn't the gradual pulsing that indicated a horcrux was in the vicinity- it was instead a continuous low glow that made the gems brighter without making them too bright-, but it definitely couldn't be an indicator of good news.

"Ideas?" he asked, looking over at Harry and the others; he might be the Ranger expert, but he was still learning about these new power sources and their own society.

"Well… it's just a theory…" Hermione said, looking uncertainly up at her teammates as she spoke.

"If Jason here's taught us anything, it's that you shouldn't ignore the theories of the Rangers in blue; what is it?" Harry asked.

"Well… if the gems are able to let us know where the horcruxes are by pulsing… maybe when they _glow _they're meant to let us know when he's sending out a monster?" Hermione suggested, shrugging slightly. "I mean, whatever monsters Voldemort creates with the wand must contain some aspect of his power; maybe Dimitria's modifications to the gems to find the horcruxes also mean that the gems react when in the presence of something that Voldemort's created with his magic?"

After a moment's silent contemplation, Harry nodded.

"Sounds like as good a theory as any, quite frankly," he said, before he stood up and glanced over at the others. "We'd better get moving; if there _is _some kind of monster out there, we should probably-"

A loud explosion from outside the window cut off any possible further conversation, prompting the five Rangers to hurry over to the window to see what had caused the sound.

The sight that greeted them was particularly discouraging for Harry and Ginny in particular. Down on the street below, smashing through cars and glaring at the people around it, was a large, muscular green figure that looked like it was covered in scales, with a distinctively serpent-like head, complete with several sharp teeth, yellow eyes, and slight horns spread out along the back of its head. Even as the group watched the sight before them, the creature turned to glare at a couple of fleeing civilians, striking them with a faint glowing yellow beam from its eyes that instantly froze them mid-step, leaving them briefly looking like statues before they fell to the ground, frozen in whatever motion they'd been making at the time of the accident.

"Oh God…" Ginny whispered, her eyes wide in horror at the sight before them. "It's… it's the _basilisk_…"

"The what?" Jason asked, looking over at the Green Ranger in confusion. "What's a basilisk?"

"Aside from being that serpent-like zord Malfoy controlled?" Hermione put in, looking over at Jason as she reluctantly tore her eyes away from the attacking monster below her. "We're talking an extremely deadly serpent whose venom kills its victims in about a minute and whose very gaze can instantly kill you if it looks you straight in the eye and petrifies you if you see it in a reflection or through something like a camera."

"Ah," Jason said, swallowing slightly as he glanced down at the creature on the streets below them. "Well, it looks like the 'kill-you-when-it-looks-at-you' thing might not apply any more."

"What?" Harry said, looking out of the window himself in confusion. "What do you mean, it doesn't… oh, I see," he said, amending his previous statement as he saw what Jason was looking at; a group of people had just run past the basilisk-thing (He'd think up a name for it later), looking at it as they ran just as it looked in their direction, and they hadn't fallen down dead.

"How does _that _work?" Ron asked, looking at the others in confusion. "I mean, why would Voldemort want to make this thing _less _deadly…"

"Possibly because he might be planning to use it on a more regular basis after it's dealt with us; if it automatically killed _everything _it looked at, he'd run out of Death Eaters pretty rapidly," Hermione pointed out, trying not to wince as the monster below hurled a car off to one side like it was nothing; she hated just watching like this, but charging into battle without a plan or a better idea of what they were up against wasn't going to accomplish anything except maybe getting them killed.

"OK, so he can control his ability to kill with a gaze; at least that gives us a chance," Jason said, as he stood up and flexed his shoulders before looking over at the others. "Let's move, guys; we put this guy down fast, we might still have a chance."

"Right," Harry said, as he and the other Guardians all drew their wands and pointed them at the gems. "Hogwarts Guardians, _attivare_!"

"White Dragon Guardian Power!"

No sooner had the commands been issued than all five of them had leapt out of their hotel window- by this point most people had already fled the scene of the basilisk-like creature's attack, so it wasn't like they had to worry about some really determined individual working out who they were based on what window they'd leapt out of and finding out who was currently staying in the room that the window belonged to-, landing on the ground and drawing their weapons as they glared at the creature before them.

"OK then, ugly," Harry said, the Rangers' Guardian blades all clenched in their hands as they glared at the monster before them, "care to back off before things get ugly?"

"Ah, the so-called 'Guardian Rangers'!" the creature before them said, its voice sounding like it was talking to them through a thick layer of mucus. "I've been waiting for you!"

"Really?" Ginny countered, looking critically at the creature as she indicated the damage it had left behind itself while coming along the street. On the bright side, it didn't look like the thing had done much damage beyond what was visible on the street itself, since the damage started a few metres away from the nearest side road, but the fact that the creature had landed that close to them left the group with a few more questions that none of them were certain they wanted to know the answer to; if Voldemort could track them that accurately they had a serious problem. "And, just out of curiosity, what do we call you anyway?"

"I am Basiliskdor!" the creature roared, glaring at them as its eyes flashed yellow. "And now, you all shall-"

"RUN!" Harry yelled, the Rangers instantly vaulting out of the way mere moments before yellow rays from Basiliskdor's eyes struck the spot where they had been standing mere moments ago.

"_Stupefy_!" Ginny yelled, aiming a spell at the creature in front of her as she landed, only for the creature to keep walking as though it hadn't even noticed the spell that had struck it. "Oh, _nuts_…"

"_Impedimentia_!" Ron and Hermione yelled out, both of them aiming their wands at Basiliskdor even as he turned to look in Ginny's direction. The spell seemed to have a more significant effect this time around- Harry could have sworn that he saw the creature freeze for a second or two-, but the creature nevertheless shook it off and turned to glare at Hermione with a malicious smile.

"Gutsy, aren't you?" he said, his multiple fangs gleaming as he glared at her. "Too bad you apparently didn't get the brain to go with it!"

Harry, Ginny and Jason could only watch in horror as Basiliskdor's eyes glowed yellow once again before the same energy bursts that had petrified the civilians earlier lashed out to strike at the Blue Ranger, only for the yellow-clad form of the Hufflepuff Guardian, moving faster than any of them had ever seen him move, dive in between Basiliskdor and the Blue Guardian and take the brunt of the attack, his scream of defiance cut off mid-yell as he fell to the ground, frozen mid-leap.

For a moment a brief silence settled over the group, the Rangers horrified at what had just taken place and the Basiliskdor staring in confusion at the sight that had just taken place before him- it was too clearly intended to be masculine for any of them to think of the creature as 'it'-, before Harry, rage evident in his stance, raised his blade and yelled out "_EXPECTO PATRONUM_!"

The resulting ghostly white stag may not have been 'designed' with something like Basiliskdor in mind, but nobody could deny that the results were effective. The silver animal that burst from Harry's blade charged towards the serpent-like creature and swiftly tossed it up onto its horns, carrying the creature down the street towards a nearby wall. Even as Basiliskdor collided with the wall with a distinctly unpleasant-sounding thump, the rest of the team could only focus on the now-unconscious form of their Yellow Ranger, Hermione already on her knees as she stared at his still form in horror.

"Ron, don't you _dare do this to me_!" she screamed, clutching his shoulders as she tried to ignore how stiff he was even as she did so. "Don't die on me… you _can't _die on me… _don't you dare die on me, you IDIOT_!"


	21. Tactical Withdrawal

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"Hermione, Ron is _not _dead," Jason said grimly, crouching down beside the blue Ranger to grab her hand and hold it to his unconscious teammate's neck, smiling slightly as he felt the familiar slow but present beat of a heartbeat below his fingers.

Just like he'd suspected, really; Voldemort might be ruthless, but at the same time, just like Zedd, he evidently wasn't the type of villain who'd want the particularly big pains in his neck to die quickly.

It seemed to be the same with bad guys the world over; they could never just outright _kill _their opponents when there was an opportunity to torment them in some way or another before they actually dealt the killing blow.

"Right," Jason said, glancing back at the serpent creature before them even as he pulled out Saba. "We need to move fast here; we need to figure out some way of stopping this thing long enough for us to figure out what happened to Ron. You guys have a spell that can stop people moving, right-?"

"Ron and I already _tried _that; it _didn't work, REMEMBER_?" Hermione yelled in frustration at the team's White Ranger, noting that Basiliskdor was already beginning to stir. "_We CAN'T immobilise him_-"

"On your own, maybe not, but what if all _three _of you channel the spell through Saba?" Jason countered, spinning the sword to look anxiously at Tommy's old partner. "Think you can handle it, Saba?"

"Naturally," Saba replied, the sword sounding almost offended at the idea that it wouldn't be capable of such a simple task. "Simply aim your spells at me; I shall do the rest."

"Right," Harry said, stepping back and drawing his wand, Hermione and Ginny joining him as they subsequently aimed their wands at Jason's sword, the blade pointing in the direction of the currently-dazed Basiliskdor.

"_Impedimentia_!" the three wizards cried, the spells from their wands striking Saba, causing the blade to glow a brilliant blue before Jason hurled the sword at Basiliskdor. As soon as the sentient sword had struck its target, Basiliskdor froze in position, only for it to almost immediately afterwards be engulfed in a bright light and vanish.

"What the… did you just _kill it_?" Harry asked, looking incredulously over at Jason.

"Saba?" Jason asked, glancing at the sword that had now returned to his hand.

"It is not dead; I merely teleported it to a location some distance from this city to prevent it harming innocents in the event that it was still able to use its powers while under your spell," Saba clarified, looking nonchalantly around at the other Guardian Rangers. "After all, its body is paralysed, but its mind is still active; if it can move its eyes, it might be able to take action against other innocents before we can return."

"Good call," Harry said, nodding in approval at the sword before he turned his attention back to the White Ranger holding it. "Let's go."

Even as Jason nodded, the increasingly familiar light of teleportation surrounded the Guardian Rangers…

* * *

A few seconds later, the five of them were once again standing in the ruins of the old command centre, the control consoles still faintly glowing from what power remained after Jason and Saba had restored the command centre to some semblance of life during their last visit.

"What the- what's the point of coming _here_?" Hermione asked, indicating the consoles around them in frustration, glaring at Jason as she removed her helmet, her teammates quickly copying her action. "There can't be anything _here_ about a 'cure' for what Basiliskdor's done to Ron and the others; checking Harry's brain is one thing, but this is something that _kills _you-"

"Look, we already established that this thing doesn't kill you with its 'Gaze of Death' thing- or whatever you want to call it-; given that Ron's still got a pulse, it looks like it doesn't kill its victims _instantly_, either," Jason countered, glaring briefly at Hermione before he glanced over at where Harry was currently standing. "You know Voldemort best; would he be willing to deliberately sacrifice his followers to achieve a more important goal?"

Before Harry could reply, Ginny shook her head, stepping forward slightly to answer Jason's query herself.

"What with how rare pure-bloods are these days- most wizards are half-bloods at best, quite frankly; if they hadn't been willing to marry muggles they'd have eventually died out - I don't think he'd want to risk doing anything that would limit the amount of people who he'd accept the allegiance of without having _some _kind of antidote," she said, looking curiously at the White Guardian. "Why do you ask?"

"Because," Jason clarified, as he indicated the fallen forms of the basilisk-thing's first victims, "if that's the case, we might be able to take this guy out _and _still manage to save Ron."

"What?" Harry asked, looking in confusion between his teammates. "Did I miss something?"

"Look, even if this basilisk thing can control who it kills with its 'Gaze of Death' thing, you really think that Voldemort wouldn't want to make sure he couldn't cure any of his followers if this thing took them out by accident or ended up going rogue on him?" Jason explained, looking impatiently over at Harry. "If he didn't want to risk losing a follower because this thing just instantly killed everyone it looked at directly, doesn't it seem like a good bet that it'll also have a cure of some kind?"

"A _cure_?" Hermione repeated, looking in ever-growing frustration at Jason. "I'm sorry, but the only thing that can 'cure' petrification like this are mandrakes, and we not only don't have any on us right now, we don't have the time to _grow _any if we're going to find the remaining horcruxes-!"

"Mandrakes cure _normal _petrification; I think it's safe to say that _this _is anything _but _normal," Harry pointed out, looking between his two friends before he glanced over at Jason. "Any suggestions for where we might find that info?"

"Nothing off the top of my head- the technical side of things was really Billy's field-," Jason replied, shaking his head slightly even as he pulled out his sword once again, "but I'm hoping that the command centre's databanks will have _something_ that we can use, assuming that Saba here can access them… can you?"

As the White Ranger turned to address his sword, the sword's 'head'- for lack of a better term- was already turning to look at the other Rangers with a slight nod.

"Of course," Saba replied, the sword sounding almost insulted at the implication that it couldn't do what Jason had just asked of it. "With the aid of the information that was contained in the Power Chamber prior to its destruction, combined with anything the Rangers can provide for me, it should be straightforward enough for me to piece together the appropriate information to develop an antidote for the Yellow Ranger's current condition and from there create something that can be delivered to all those currently affected by Basiliskdor's gaze."

"Well… normal basilisk-induced paralysis could be cured by giving the petrified person a potion containing mandrake; would that help?" Hermione asked.

"A starting-point, certainly, but hardly a guaranteed solution; Basiliskdor's gaze is doubtless more effective than the conventional paralysis these 'mandrakes' treated," Saba said, looking over at Hermione with an almost offended gaze. "If I am to have any success, I will require samples of the potion that was used to treat this petrification the last time you encountered it- I presume you actually have practical experience with this condition, correct?"

"Yeah, one was unleashed on Hogwarts in my second year; why- oh, you want us to see about picking up some samples of the potion, right?" Harry asked, smiling slightly as Saba nodded only for the grin to fade as he thought about what he'd just been asked. "I dunno… it's been over four years since the basilisk's attack; what if-?"

"She kept it, trust me; mandrakes are so hard to come by these days that any potions made using them would have been kept around just in case they were needed again, no matter _how _unlikely it might be," Hermione said, nodding reassuringly at Harry before she turned back to Saba. "So… if we can pick up some of those potions, you'll be able to use them to synthesis an antidote?"

"At the very least it would provide us with an avenue of investigation to begin further analysis," Saba confirmed, nodding in confirmation at the Blue Ranger.

"Right then," Hermione said, as she stood back with a slight smile, "I'll nip off to the hospital wing and see what I can find; you guys…"

She paused for a moment, evidently uncertain what to say, before shrugging apologetically. "Well… do what you can if that thing comes back, OK?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Harry said, nodding briefly at Hermione before the Blue Ranger vanished, leaving him to turn back and look anxiously at Saba. "How long have we got until Basiliskdor's able to move again?"

"Allowing for what information I have already gathered about your spells, combined with what I observed about Basiliskdor, I estimate that it should only be paralysed for a matter of minutes," Saba answered; as Ginny turned her glare on the sword, Harry could have sworn that the thing seemed to wince. "Well, it is hardly an exact science, and you still have to allow for various details such as the creature's own natural resistance towards magic…"

"Right, fine, so the thing's going to get moving again fairly soon; that means we've only got a few minutes to come up with any kind of strategy to stop it," Harry said, sighing slightly in frustration before he glanced back at Jason. "Don't suppose you've got any ideas you'd like to share with us?"

"Nothing specific comes to mind," Jason said, shrugging apologetically. "The best thing I can think of is for you guys to hit it hard and hit it fast; if you can figure out some way to turn that thing's gaze back on itself, that might help as well, but given that I don't know much about the creature itself…"

His voice trailed off as Harry and Ginny looked sharply at each other at that last comment, a wide-eyed expression of excitement on their faces.

"Could it work?" Harry asked, looking urgently at Ginny.

"Well, we know that the original basilisk's gaze was never as effective if it wasn't viewed directly, but I don't think anyone's ever tried reflecting it _back _at the basilisk _itself _before…" Ginny mused, staring reflectively upwards for a few moments before she shrugged. "Well, it can't hurt to try it, right?"

"Probably the best shot we're going to get at doing damage to that thing until we're back at full power anyway…" Harry said, half to himself, as he turned to look at Jason and Saba. "Jason, you and Saba keep an eye on Ron and do what you can about coming up with a cure for Basiliskdor's gaze; Ginny, you see what you can do about figuring out a means of deflecting Basiliskdor's gaze back at itself, and I'll do what I can to keep that thing occupied before we're ready to strike back."

"Are you sure about that?" Jason asked.

Harry shrugged.

"Not entirely," he admitted, smiling slightly as he moved to place his helmet back on. "But hey; I'm the Red Ranger, right? Even without the rest of the team, I've got to at least _try _to take on the big guns if I'm going to get anywhere."

Despite the grim nature of the crisis they faced, Jason couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, we tend to do that a lot," he said, shrugging slightly as he looked at the young man he was already coming to think of as his protégé. "Just don't let Basiliskdor into a position where it can look directly at you, and you should be set."

"What he said," Ginny added briefly, the glare on her face making it clear that Harry would have more reason to fear her than Basiliskdor if he screwed this up.

"Gotcha," he said, before he put his helmet back on and teleported away…

* * *

Arriving in the middle of an empty field, apparently a couple of miles outside of the town where they had been earlier, staring at the presently-motionless form of Basiliskdor just as its fingers began to move.

_Well_, Harry reflected to himself as he drew his Guardian Blade, _hate to kick a man when he's down, but might as well get started now…_

With that thought, he charged at his opponent, slashing rapidly at the creature before it could start moving again. Its hide was too thick for him to do much more than scratch it, but he still managed to score a few decent blows- in his opinion- on the monster before him before it turned to look directly at him (Its eyes had been shut at the time they'd frozen it so he wasn't able to blind it like Fawkes had done to the original basilisk), Harry only just managing to duck under the creature's gaze before its 'beams' hit him.

"_Red… Ranger…_" the monster said, its voice low and rough as though it hadn't used it much (Not that it would have had much reason to, now that Harry thought about it; why would Voldemort want something that could talk?).

"Yeah, that's me," Harry countered, remembering not to mention his name; they didn't know if Voldemort knew who the Hogwarts Guardians were under their helmets yet- so far Goldar and Malfoy had both seen them unmasked, but it wasn't clear if either of them had subsequently provided Voldemort with their real names; the fact that they'd fought off the tengas sent to Privet Drive as the Guardians could just be the Guardians protecting him rather than that he _was _one of them-, but if he _was _ignorant of their identities that gave them an edge that Harry wasn't keen to sacrifice.

"_You… die…_" Basiliskdor hissed, before baring its teeth to charge at the Red Ranger, Harry only just managing to vault off to the side as the serpent-like creature charged where he had been standing only a few moments before.

"Sorry, but it's not going to be _that _easy," Harry said, drawing his wand as he glared pointedly at Basiliskdor beneath his helmet. "You care to try this again?"

The monster didn't reply vocally, but the claws and teeth it bared as it charged towards him once again made it more than obvious that it was willing to take up Harry's challenge. For a moment, Harry simply stood still as it charged towards him, his body tensed as he waited for the right moment, subsequently lunging forward with his Guardian Blade as it came within arm's length, determined to impale the creature in its mouth as it moved in to bite him-

As Basiliskdor shifted its head to the side just in time to grab the Blade between its teeth- its neck suddenly longer by several inches than it had been early; it must be able to extend it automatically somehow-, Harry barely had time to release his grip on the blade before the creature's claws slashed out at where his chest had been; as it was, he was left with a rather sore scratch on his left shoulder, but otherwise he was unharmed.

Harry quickly reevaluated his previous assessment of just how easy this fight was going to be; anything that could move that fast was _not _something he should underestimate…

* * *

AN: Not the longest, I know, but I figured I had to get SOMETHING up after leaving this for so long…

On that topic, any suggestions for future one-shot monsters are greatly appreciated; I have plans for a couple of old enemies showing up for my next couple of planned team-ups- so NO requests for past Ranger villains unless you have a clear idea what you want them to be doing, please; I've already made up my mind who's dropping in on that front-, but any monster suggestions you can come up with based on creatures in the _Harry Potter _series would be greatly appreciated


	22. Old Costume, New Product

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Once again, sorry about the delay; writer's block at the moment (I've got a few good ideas for LATER, but at the moment I'm stuck on a few of the fine points, although I've got some ideas for the next few chapters). As thanks for your patience, I'm including a certain introduction in this chapter…

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As Hermione found herself in the middle of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing- teleporting with their Ranger abilities was really amazingly easy; she hadn't found _anything _they couldn't get through so far-, she was only slightly surprised to see Madam Pomfrey standing there going over the potions on a couple of shelves; given that most of the staff lived at Hogwarts, it only made sense that Madam Pomfrey would remain available in case of accidents (Particularly with _Hagrid _one of the ones remaining)…

"What-?" Madam Pomfrey began, turning at the sound of the teleportation, only to nearly drop the potion she was carrying at the sight of the Blue Guardian Ranger, staring at her with a resolute stance that made it clear that she was here for something vital.

"Sorry to just show up like this, but we have a bit of a problem and we need your help," Hermione said, taking care to keep her voice slightly lower than usual; the helmet might help to limit the possibility of someone recognising her voice, but anything she could do to help preserve their identities at this point couldn't fail to be useful. "We're dealing with a basilisk-themed monster at the moment, and as I recall there was news of petrification-cure potions being required here a few years ago?"

"Yes…" Madam Pomfrey said, nodding slightly uncertainly at the blue-clad woman before her. "Actually, we still have a few phials of it left over; at the time I was preparing them I wanted to be sure we were fully stocked in case there were any more victims than those who had been attacked already…"

"Good," Hermione said, nodding slightly as she walked over to stand beside the matron who'd cared for them through so many illnesses, indicating the potions' cabinet before them. "So… any chance I could borrow one or two of them? The creature might not be a conventional basilisk, but if we analyse what treated the original's victims we might be able to figure out how to develop a cure for them now."

"Of… of course," Madam Pomfrey replied, still apparently slightly dazed at this unexpected visit as she reached into the cabinet and took out a few phials that Hermione instantly recognised as mandrake juice; after the empty phial had been practically the first thing she saw after waking up from her petrification, it had made a fairly significant impression in her memory.

"Thanks," Hermione said, taking the phials and nodding back at Madam Pomfrey, taking care to keep her tone formal to limit the possibility of recognition. "We appreciate this, I assure you."

With that, she Apparated away (She still couldn't get over the fact that she could apparate _inside _an area like Hogwarts with these powers)…

* * *

Ducking under the latest blast from Basiliskdor, Harry wondered how much longer he could expect to keep this up before one of the monster's blows got lucky. So far he'd managed to stay unscratched thanks to a rather effective combination of his quidditch reflexes and the endurance he'd built up during the few sparring sessions Jason had managed to give them since he joined them- he preferred not to think too much about the protection he might get from his Ranger abilities; experience had taught him that if you started relying too much on one thing over everything else you ran a good risk of ending up dead-, but that couldn't last forever…

As Basiliskdor lunged towards him once again, mouth wide open in preparation of biting down, Harry couldn't help but briefly be reminded of his last encounter with a basilisk, his life only just spared by Fawkes's aid in blinding that monster and healing his injury…

Before the creature's fangs could make contact with his suit, Harry had already ducked under the leaping snake-beast and slashed out with his Guardian Blade, striking the monstrosity along the lower jaw with a blow that left a long, thin line stretching along the throat, displacing a few scales without actually piercing the skin.

"You're fast," Harry said grimly as he raised his blade, staring resolutely at the monster before him as it turned to look at him, "but not fast _enough_."

He just wished he felt as confident as he was trying to sound; he might have the advantage of experience- he somehow doubted Voldemort spent much time giving his creations memories of false lives or anything like that-, but its own natural capabilities in a fight like this weren't something he could afford to overlook if he wanted to walk away from this, a fact that was rapidly proven when his opponent's next blow struck his Guardian Blade with such force that he nearly dropped it.

"Strong, though," Harry said, trying to sound nonchalant about it as he rolled back from his foe, panting slightly from the exertion. "Shall we see… how that works out for you?"

_Goddamnit_… he reflected, ducking under another blow from his opponent, _if Jason can't come up with something soon, I'm in _serious _trouble_…

Even as Harry and Basiliskdor fought, nobody noticed the darkly-clad figure crouching down off to the side behind a couple of nearby trees, clearly waiting for an opportunity of some kind to make its presence known…

* * *

As Hermione reappeared in the original Power Rangers' Command Centre opposite Jason and Ginny, she only just had time to take in the sight of the original Red Ranger helping the current Green Ranger study something on one of the screens- Saba still sticking out of a nearby console, evidently going through what he could find in the databanks- before they glanced up at her (She only vaguely registered Ron as he lay on what looked like an examination table of some sort behind her; right now the best thing she could do for him was help her teammates figure out a cure).

"Back already?" Jason asked, looking at her in surprise. "Not that I'm complaining, but it normally took a bit more effort for us to get outside assistance this early in _my_ Ranger career; how did you get this stuff so fast?"

"Well, we _were _already at war with our villain before you showed up; that might make people more willing to trust us early on," Hermione said, shrugging slightly as she passed the phial to Jason. "Can we use this?"

Taking the phial, Jason nodded briefly as he studied it.

"It _might _work…" he said, nodding thoughtfully as he placed the phial in front of Saba. "What do you think?"

For a moment Saba was silent as it looked at the phial before it, its eyes glowing red as it contemplated the sight before it, until its eyes returned to normal.

"Quite possible," Saba said, looking over at Jason with a brief 'smile' on its face. "Admittedly, we are still limited in available information about _how _this treats conventional petrification without knowing more about the effects of that-"

"If it helps, I was one of the people who was attacked during the original basilisk's assault on the school; would an analysis of me help you figure out what the potion does?" Hermione asked, looking over at Saba as she removed her helmet.

How something that was essentially just a sword-handle could look thoughtful, Hermione wasn't sure, but Saba definitely seemed to accomplish it as he looked back at her.

"Quite possibly," he said as he looked back at her. "If you could just position yourself in front of that scanner over there…?"

Glancing over at an illuminated control panel, Hermione nodded in understanding before walking over to stand in front of it, tensing herself slightly as a beam of light emerged from the console to run across her body before shutting down, the information subsequently being transferred to the screen in front of Jason and Ginny.

"Anything?" Hermione asked, looking at her teammates as she walked over to join them.

"I think I've mentioned more than once that I wasn't exactly the science guy on my team?" Jason pointed out, looking at Hermione with a slight glare before his expression relaxed into a smile. "Still, I _think _this makes a certain sense; according to the computer read-outs, certain parts of your brain- specifically the parts relating to physical movement- appear to have been stimulated in some manner after a prolonged period of inactivity in the past, which _does _fit in with what you've told me…"

"Can you use it to get Ron up again, or not?" Ginny asked, folding her arms as she glared at the sword.

"Well… _possibly_," Saba replied, smiling over at her with something that was probably the closest to an apologetic expression his features would allow him to make. "You have to keep in mind that these computers haven't been used for a while, and were certainly never used for anything as complex as this; mixing science and magic to treat injuries and assaults like this is something that even Zordon himself rarely attempted, and adding in the unknown elements of whatever Voldemort may have done to Basiliskdor when he mutated him into his current state-"

"Save the explanations, sword-boy; if you can save my brother, _do it_," Ginny said, glaring at Saba with an intense stare.

"Right…" Saba said, making a sound that gave the impression that he was swallowing something- despite such obvious handicaps as his lack of a throat- before his eyes shifted to Hermione. "Well, Miss Granger, if you'd just lie down on that stretcher over there, we'll see what we can detect from your scans-"

Just then, a sudden beeping sound drew the group's attention over to another part of the building, which revealed a blue-and-white diamond-patterned shield that Jason quickly recognised.

"What the… the shield we used against Octophantom?" he said, looking over at Saba in surprise; that vain monstrosity might not have been the most challenging monster they'd ever faced, but it wasn't exactly easy to forget. "It's that simple?"

"Well, I had to mystically charge its reflective qualities in order to increase the chances of it working on a creature like Basiliskdor- to say nothing of finding it in the archives; the Alphas might not throw anything away but things get surprisingly full down there over time-, but it should do the job we need it for, yes," Saba explained, before his eyes shifted to look at Ginny. "Given that we still require Miss Granger's presence in order to best determine an antidote for Basiliskdor's stare, would you be willing to take this shield-?"

"And use it to help Harry take out Basiliskdor?" Ginny finished for him, a resolute smile on her face as she walked over to take the shield from the wall that it had emerged from. "Trust me on this; I am _definitely _ready for this!"

"Just… be careful, OK?" Jason said, his tone conveying his uncertainty as Ginny placed her helmet back on her head. "Until Hermione's finished helping me out here, you and Harry are going to be on your own…"

"Trust me," Ginny said, her voice practically a growl as she looked at Jason, her fists clenched as she raised the shield, "that works out _fine_ with me."

Before Jason could ask anything else, Ginny had vanished in the now-familiar glow of teleportation, leaving Hermione and Jason looking anxiously at the place where she had been standing before they returned their attention to the matter of Ron and the petrification cure they now needed to develop.

* * *

Ginny barely had any time to process her current environment- she'd been 'aiming' for Harry's gem and found herself in a decent-sized field- before she found herself suddenly struck in the back by a powerful blow from what felt like a claw, the blow swiftly being followed up by a kick to her lower back that knocked the shield right out of her hands, sending it flying off to another part of the field while Ginny found herself colliding with Harry as he stood in front of her, clearly surprised at this new arrival even with his helmet blocking his face.

"Uh… hi?" Ginny said uncertainly as she found herself on top of Harry, their helmets almost nose-to-nose as she lay above him. "Sorry about this-"

"MOVE!" Harry interjected, grabbing her shoulders and rolling off to the side, just narrowly avoid a rapidly-moving object that could only be Basiliskdor's fist as it struck the ground where their heads had been only moments ago.

"The shield!" Ginny yelled over at her boyfriend as she leapt to her feet, her Guardian Blade drawn as she faced the serpent-like monster that so resembled the figure she only vaguely remembered in her nightmares of what she'd done under Riddle's control (She'd never regained conscious memory of what she'd done then, but she'd read enough- coupled with her sight of the monster's corpse- to form a clear mental picture of the basilisk in action). "We have to find the shield; it should be able to-!"

A sudden lunge from Basiliskdor cut Ginny off before she could finish her sentence, sending her desperately spinning off to the side to avoid the worst of the punch while Harry charged forward once again, his blade only grazing the lower part of Basiliskdor's face rather than doing any more permanent damage. As the serpent monster hurled Harry back once more, striking Ginny before she could regain her balance, its eyes flashed in the manner that they'd come to recognise as the sign that it was about to use its glare-

"That's my cue!" an unfamiliar voice said.

Almost as soon as the sound had faded, a sudden black blur appeared out of nowhere, colliding with Basiliskdor and sending it staggering backwards, momentarily off-balance as the new arrival turned to look at Harry and Ginny. For a moment the two of them instinctively tensed for action as they took in the shockingly familiar form of the Black Hogwarts 'Guardian' Ranger standing before them- had Malfoy stopped Basiliskdor from killing them simply because he wanted to be the one to do it himself?-, but then they noticed changes such as the lack of spikes on the gauntlets and helmet, as well as the more obvious detail that this figure possessed a slight-but-significant cleavage, and realised that they were mistaken.

"What the…?" Ginny said, looking uncertainly at the new arrival, clearly lost for words at the sight of the unknown woman in the costume of someone who'd nearly killed them before. "Who the…?"

"Who am I?" the woman in Malfoy's old uniform asked, sounding somewhat amused at their evident confusion as she answered the obvious question before either of them could voice it themselves. "I'm just the new Black Ranger, here to help out my fellow Rangers in adversity against this ugly paralysing son of a bitch; what the hell _is _this-?"

Conversation was briefly halted when Harry leapt forward to pull the new arrival out of the way of a lunge from Basiliskdor, the monster missing both Rangers and landing on the ground just in front of Ginny, leaving her with a perfect opportunity to stamp her foot down on the monster's elongated snout.

As Basiliskdor reeled back, clutching its nose in pain, Harry drew his Guardian Blade- the Black Ranger doing the same; Harry noted that her blade retained the extra length that it had possessed when Malfoy was wielding her powers- and lunged at the dazed monster, the sheer force of power behind the blades coupled with Basiliskdor's already-disorientated state finally allowing them to penetrate their foe's hide as they slid their swords under his scales rather than attempting a more direct attack. Temporarily immobilised by the blades in his back, Basiliskdor could only roar in pain and agony as the blades dug further into his body, the scream only being cut off when Ginny lunged forward and plunged her Guardian Blade into his head, the blade going through his mouth and into his brain with such force that it came out the back of his head.

For a moment the three of them simply stood around Basiliskdor, waiting for a few moments in case of any additional signs of life from the body, before they all stood back, the monster that had caused them so much trouble collapsing into a pile of what could best be described in Harry's mind as 'sludge', leaving him and Ginny staring bemusedly at it for a moment before they remembered the presence of their new apparent ally.

"Now that that's dealt with," Harry began, as he turned to look at the new Black Guardian Ranger, "can I… ask…"

His voice trailed off as he realised that their mysterious helper had vanished as suddenly as she'd arrived, leaving no trace of her presence or any sign that she'd even been there in the first place.

"What the…?" Ginny muttered, looking around herself in confusion before she turned back to Harry. "Where'd she go?"

"I don't know…" Harry muttered, shaking his head slightly as he looked back at her, his body language demonstrating his confusion even if his mask concealed his face, but he finally shook his head as he got to his feet. "We'd better keep moving; we still have to get that Petrification cure developed…"

* * *

Less than an hour later, the small town where the fight between Basiliskdor and the Hogwarts Guardian Rangers had taken place witnessed a strange sight as a large blue robotic eagle flew over the buildings, leaving a glowing mist in its wake before it vanished into the air once again. Even as the people who had previously been lying comatose around the streets and in the hospitals began to stir into consciousness, everyone could only watch as the large zord flew away, leaving the town Rangerless before even the first newspaper had been published about their presence.

Even as the revived Rangers drove off in Jason's jeep- Ron now conscious once more; after they'd managed to synthesise the potion to cure Basiliskdor's petrification, modifying it into an airborne delivery system that could treat the rest of the affected victims en masse had been fairly simple-, none of them could stop contemplating the mystery surrounding the sudden appearance and identity of the new Black Ranger…


	23. Quilltor

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: The next few chapters are just going to consist of random monsters more than anything else- in keeping with Ranger tradition, after scoring such a major defeat as losing his evil Ranger, Voldemort's going to have a _bit _of trouble coming up with effective monsters to counter them for a while-, so the fights won't be especially long

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"So, let me get this straight; the 'evil Ranger going good' thing is a… _tradition_?" Harry said, looking incredulously at Jason as they sat outside a remote fast food store eating their next meal (They weren't exactly living glamorous lives on this little 'search' of theirs, but at least they had some resources to draw on thanks to Jason's time in charge of his own business; Harry would hate to think how things could have gone if they'd ended up trying to find the horcruxes _without _Jason's help).

"Well, it's more a 'recurring thing' than anything else," Jason said, shaking his head slightly at the memory of his old fights with Tommy back when he'd first acquired the Green Power Coin. "My first team had to deal with the evil Green Ranger- he was a one-off thing as a result of a spell that had been placed on the Green Power Coin; every Green Ranger since then has _always _been on our side-, then we had a few basic imitations who never lasted that long before the Space Rangers ended up fighting the Psycho Rangers, who were specifically created to kill their Ranger counterparts; pretty much the only time when the evil Rangers were _just _evil Rangers rather than being under a spell or something…"

"So… they _didn't _switch to your side in the end, I take it?" Hermione asked, from where she was currently sitting beside Ron; although he seemed to have come through his recent Petrification experience intact on a personal and physical level, nobody was comfortable with leaving him totally unsupported in case he had a relapse, particularly with such an untested 'cure'.

"Actually, I'd left the team by that point, but no, they didn't; they ended up getting destroyed by the Space Rangers after they managed to work out a few of the Psychos' weaknesses," Jason explained, before he shrugged and continued talking. "The Titanium Ranger for the Lightspeed Rescue team and the Thunder Rangers for the Ninja Storm team were both initially just tricked by the bad guys into fighting for their side- although I heard something about the Thunder Rangers being briefly put under a spell to fight for their enemies later on-, Zen-Aku was an evil spirit possessing an ex-Ranger and controlling his zords, and the White Dino Thunder Ranger was another guy who turned evil due to a spell…"

"Weren't there two other teams?" Hermione asked uncertainly. "I mean, I think I recall reading about there being some Rangers on that 'Terra Venture' colony that was launched a few years back, and then there was Wes and Eric's team…"

"Yeah, but in those cases their 'other Rangers' were just jerks rather than being evil," Jason clarified. "The Magna Defender for the Rangers on Terra Venture was just so focused on his own vendetta that he sometimes put the others at risk before he passed his powers on to someone else, and when Eric became the Quantum Ranger he was mainly interested in establishing himself as 'better' than Wes because he'd always had some inferiority issues what with his background compared to Wes's."

"Ah," Ron said, nodding slightly in understanding as he shook his head in a slight daze. "_Damn_, that's complicated..."

"Still, on an immediate note, mystery of the new Black Guardian Ranger's identity aside, at least we're making progress," Harry said, shrugging slightly as he looked around at his friends. "I mean, we've got one horcrux taken care of already, and we've deprived Voldemort of one of his best weapons against us; after taking out his evil Guardian- to the extent that the person who found the Gem has already helped us take out one of his monsters-, what can he realistically hit us with-?"

The sound of something exploding outside prompted Hermione and Ginny to shoot scathing glares at Harry before the team all leapt to their feet and hurried out of the restaurant, morphing as soon as they were out of sight in a back-alley before dashing around the restaurant to the front, only for their eyes to automatically spot the source of the latest commotion; a tall, thin monster with a pointed head with long thin green 'spikes' coming out of it on all sides, shorter but similar-looking spikes visible across its arms and legs, walking down the street and randomly tossing the cars around it up into the air as it walked.

"Oh, _great_..." Ron muttered, rolling his eyes at the sight. "So much for a break, huh?"

"We'll cope," Jason said, smiling slightly grimly at the monster before him even as he couldn't help but cross his fingers; he wasn't clear on how much Ron's recent Petrification would slow down his reflexes in a fight, and his team were still relatively new at this kind of combat anyway. "It doesn't look like much- probably Voldemort's version of a 'catch-up monster'-"

"'Catch-up monster'?" Harry asked.

"A name me and the guys came up with for some of our more minor monsters; after we dealt Rita, Zedd or the Machine Empire a particularly devastating defeat- we got a new Zord, something like that-, their subsequent monsters tended to be based on rather dumb ideas," Jason said, smiling slightly at the memory of some of those monsters before he turned back to look at the creature before them. "So, what are you?"

"I am Quilltor, White Ranger!" the monster roared, raising his arms in a combat stance as he glared at his foes. "And now you shall-"

"Hold on; _Quill_tor?" Hermione said, staring incredulously at the monster before them, his strange appearance now making sense. "As in... Voldemort made you out of a _quill_?"

"Trust me, if you think _this _is stupid, you haven't seen some of the things _I've _fought," Jason asked, turning to look at Hermione with a slight smile under his helmet. "Try a monster that's made from a lipstick; I never really understood why Zedd ever thought _that _was going to be able to kill us…"

"SILENCE!" Quilltor yelled, thrusting its arms forward and launching metallic-looking feathers at the Hogwarts Guardians, the blades sending the Rangers flying backwards into the nearest wall.

"Ouch…" Jason muttered, wincing slightly as he got back to his feet; that thing hit _hard_…

Then he felt something warm and wet trickling down the right side of his chest, and a glance to the side revealed everything he needed to know; the blades that Quilltor had launched at him had actually penetrated his costume, leaving him with some _very _deep cuts in his side...

"_Jason_!" Harry yelled, crouching down to examine their mentor as the other Rangers leapt to confront Quilltor, a couple of long pointed quills emerging in the monster's hands to act as swords as it clashed against the Ranger's Guardian Blades.

"'M fine..." Jason muttered, trying to restrain the natural wince as he staggered to his feet, glaring at the creature before them. "Give me a few minutes... take it out..."

Harry could only stare at Jason for a moment as his new friend leant against the nearby wall, clearly gasping for breath against the pain in his side, before he nodded in acceptance- given Jason's superior experience at hand-to-hand combat he probably knew better what kind of physical pain he was able to deal with-, drew his Guardian Blade and leapt into the fight, forcing Quilltor back momentarily.

"Keep him off-balance!" Harry yelled over at his friends as they ducked around Quilltor's attack. "We have to put him down _fast_-!"

"You shall _never _put me down!" Quilltor countered, slashing at the Red Guardian Ranger with such force that his helmet's visor was cracked, sending him hurtling to the ground with a powerful impact.

"_Harry_!" Ginny yelled in shock, before she turned around and continued her assault on the monster before her, sending it staggering with a powerful kick that sent it lurching forward into Ron's blade, impaling the creature right through its body.

"Take _this_!" Hermione added, following up Ron's stab with a sweeping blow that struck Quilltor in the neck, sending him staggering backwards as he clutched at his bleeding- or whatever passed for blood for him- neck, glaring at them.

"You..." he growled, 'blood' trickling from the corner of his mouth as he stared at his foes, "cannot... win..."

"Want to bet?" Jason put in, now back on his feet as he stood behind the other Rangers; the wound in his side still hurt, but after some of the blasts he'd taken in his career as a Ranger this one was fairly straightforward to get through (Being turned to gold by that Midas Monster of Louie Kaboom's; now _that _had been a tricky one to come back from). "Guys, hit him hard!"

With that order, the Rangers aimed their Guardian Blades at Quilltor and launched a blast of pure magic at their opponent, the blow sending the creature flying backwards into a wall before it exploded, leaving only singed markings against the wall as any sign that there had been something there originally.

"Huh," Jason muttered, studying the damage before him with a brief nod. "That was... almost too easy."

"Almost?" Harry said, looking over at Jason with a slightly anxious gaze at his mentor.

"Well, the blast I took doesn't exactly suggest that we took this guy out _quickly_," Jason elaborated, indicating the place where his costume was still scorched from the earlier damage. "Add in the fact that Zedd only sent out weaker monsters like this to keep us off-balance while he prepared for something _really _dangerous to confront us later, and I think it's safe to say that we can probably expect something more... challenging... pretty shortly in the future."

"Ah," Ron said, before he glanced at the body and shrugged. "Eh, we've dealt with everything he's had to throw at us so far; what else can he really have to hit us with...?"

"I don't know," Jason replied, looking grimly back at Ron as the Yellow Ranger's voice trailed off, the White Ranger's stance making it clear that he didn't agree with his less experienced teammate's view of things. "But I _do _know that we need to be ready, and that means finding those remaining horcruxes as quickly as possible..."

* * *

"Nuts..." the young woman who wore the Black Guardian Gem on her wrist reflected as she stared at the group of people before her, already walking off towards Jason's Jeep without any awareness of their observer. "So much for another chance to prove myself..."

"Why should you seek this proof?" a voice said from behind her.

Turning to look at the voice, the Black Gem's new owner stared in surprise at the figure standing behind her; a dark-skinned woman dressed in long white robes, staring at her with a serene smile.

"Who-?" the young woman asked.

"I am Dimitria," the new arrival said, smiling slightly at the other woman as she glanced down at the gem on her wrist. "And you, I perceive, are the one who now wields the power of the Black Guardian Gem?"

"I'm not giving it up," the young woman said, her hand automatically covering the gem as she glared at Dimitria. "I know I could have been better back then, but this is _not _a thrillseeker thing; I _really _want to help them-"

"I appreciate that, young one," Dimitria replied, raising one hand to smile at the young girl before her. "And I do not expect you to withdraw from the fight you have chosen to involve yourself in; I simply feel that, with my new Rangers currently occupied, now would be the best time for you to learn the _true _nature of what you now face."

"The... true nature?" the young woman said uncertainly, swallowing slightly as she looked at Dimitria with a now-apprehensive gaze.

* * *

AN 2: Sorry about the relative brevity of this chapter; I was a bit stuck for ideas. I've got a couple of plans for the next couple of villains that I hope will result in more detailed fight scenes than this one, but anything anyone can suggest would be appreciated.

AN 3: The Black Guardian Ranger will be getting a few pointers from Dimitria over the next few chapters, but it'll be a while before she actually reveals her true identity


	24. Planning for the Future

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: More of a 'filler chapter' here than anything else- if this was a movie, the ending would be the bit with the dramatic training montage showing the characters developing their weapons and training their skills-, but it sets the stage for the next ones neatly enough

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"OK," Jason said, looking over at Harry as he sat opposite the newest Red Ranger at the picnic area where they'd decided to rest after leaving the town (If Voldemort was tracking them, it was best to try and avoid populated areas to limit potential civilian casualties), "we've got one horcrux down already, and you've said yourself that two of them were taken out before we started this whole search; what can you tell us about what the _others _are?"

"Basically, all I know for definite is that Voldemort used objects that were somehow connected to the four Hogwarts founders," Harry said, chewing slightly on his recently-purchased sandwich before he continued. "The cup Eric destroyed in Silver Hills belonged to Helga Hufflepuff- Ron's powers essentially come from her house-, we know there's a locket that was somehow stolen by someone who signed themselves as R.A.B. who may have managed to destroy it- we don't actually _know _what happened to that one-, and Dumbledore was fairly certain Voldemort's made two more; he thought that one might be Voldemort's pet snake, but we should probably keep an open mind about that..."

"You don't trust that theory?" Hermione asked.

"Let's just say I'm... keeping an open mind on it," Harry said simply, before he shrugged. "Besides, all we've got to base _that _theory on is the fact that Voldemort's unusually fond of Nagini and has a surprising amount of control over her; given the power upgrade he must have picked up to do all this, that's not exactly enough to start saying 'horcrux', is it?"

"Wouldn't be impossible to assume that it's a natural benefit of his new powers, anyway; I heard from some of my teammates after I left the Ranger game that Lord Zedd- my team's second enemy- used a snake to create _his _staff, and given that he and Rita used the same kind of magic most of the time, it doesn't seem like it would be that much of a stretch to assume that they both had a bit of a connection to snakes themselves," Jason put in.

"OK, so we've got some evidence that the snake _isn't _a horcrux; that doesn't exactly help us figure out what the damn thing _really _is..." Ron muttered, staring in frustration at the table before he turned back to look at Harry. "Well, looks like it's time to check in with Dimitria again; maybe she's got something we could use to track-

"Unfortunately, that's not going to be that simple," Harry replied, staring grimly at Ron as he indicated his Guardian gem.

"Why not?" Hermione asked. "It's not like Dimitria's that hard to reach-"

"Except that I've been trying to get in touch with her for the last couple of days since we left Silver Hills and got nothing," Harry replied, cutting his old friend off mid-sentence. "I've not been picking up any actual 'static'- or the equivalent of it, anyway-, but the gem just doesn't appear to be making _any _kind of connection to her..."

"Something's blocking it?" Ginny asked anxiously.

"No, that can't be it; if there were any wards active capable of blocking something that was created back in the time of the Founders, we'd _definitely _know about it," Hermione said, shaking her head as she studied the gem thoughtfully. "The most obvious assumption is that there's something keeping Dimitria too occupied to respond to us, but that just creates more questions rather than answering any; what could be keeping her so busy that she can't spare the time to talk to us?"

"Look on the bright side; since it's unlikely that Voldemort knows about her, _he _probably didn't do it," Harry said, tapping the Gem briefly with his wand before he turned his attention back to his fellow Rangers. "The only question now is what we do next; if we can't actually _contact _Dimitria, there's no way for us to find the next Horcrux..."

"So... what do we actually _do _now?" Ron asked after a moment's silence, glancing almost unconsciously over at Jason as he spoke.

Jason had to stop himself from letting out a slight sigh at that last query (He supposed he should have expected it, though; as the oldest member of the team, he'd automatically acquired the 'field mentor' position for this group even if he'd come into this struggle late).

He'd never fully appreciated just why Zordon had chosen teenagers who were still at school to serve as Rangers; Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione might be excellent teammates so far, but the lack of much else for them to do right now other than keep on the move and try and find these 'horcrux' things wasn't exactly conducive to a relaxing atmosphere...

"Well," he said at last, sighing as he looked at the small group around him, "I suppose the most obvious thing we need to work on right now while we're still taking time out is combat..."

* * *

Staring impatiently at the 'viewing globe' he'd salvaged from the same collection of junk that had provided him with his newest wand- it might be somewhat large and not exactly easy to wield in a duel, but the power it provided him with more than made up for that; he could do things that not even he could have imagined were possible with magic before now-, Voldemort allowed himself a grim, frustrated smirk as he watched the 'Hogwarts Guardians' begin another round of pointless 'training'.

It would accomplish them little in the final confrontation, of course- he was already far too powerful for them to realistically expect to defeat him in a face-to-face confrontation, when his new power was combined with his long experience-, but he had to admit, so far they had actually managed to impress him with their skills; taking out the Black Guardian might have been more than a fluke than anything else, but they were definitely proving to be a thorn in his side...

The obvious question now was trying to determine the best means of eliminating the Guardians. He did have a couple of rather promising 'tricks' he could attempt before he was forced to confront them himself- this 'Goldar' character in particular was proving to be a genuinely interesting asset to his forces; his knowledge of hand-to-hand combat alone made him an invaluable aide in teaching his Death Eaters some _very _interesting further skills-, but the question remained which one he should actually _dispatch_...

Then he smiled as his eyes fell on a particular object lying in a case beside his chair.

_Perfect_, he reflected with a grim smile.

It might be an impulsive move, but he hardly needed this particular tool any more, and striking with it at this time would definitely provide him with an excellent test of what his enemies could do.

If they could defeat the tool that had served to aid him as he fought to attain his current position- assuming he understood what he was capable of with his current power-, they were _definitely _to be considered worthy adversaries...

Besides, if they defeated it, it would give him an _excellent _opportunity to practise his skills with his new wand's talents in creating monsters while he worked on creating a _very _promising new henchman.

_After all_, he reflected with an amused chuckle, _with such a... diverse... find at my disposal, it would almost be a crime for me _not _to make sure that my enemies understood the full scale of the power that I can unleash against them_...

The trick, of course, would be to find the right person to wield that power who would be truly _focused _on his task, rather than someone who might be tempted to use such power against him...

Still... even if that failed, he _had _heard a few interesting rumours from the black market around Mariner Bay that a few people had acquired some rather... interesting... old mementos from people who had had prior contact with earlier Power Ranger teams...

* * *

"Whoa..." the young woman said as she stared at the woman in white before her, trying to process what she'd just heard. "So... there's a whole... wizarding _society _hidden underground that _nobody _knows about?"

"Nobody who should not know about it, anyway," Dimitria replied with a slight smile under her veil, her body translucent as she looked at the young woman who now possessed the Black Guardian Gem. "I understand that some officials in various governments are aware of it in case it is required for them to assist in concealing it from the public, but in general the only people who know about it who possess no magic themselves are those whose children are born with magic or those who marry someone with magic."

"Right..." the new Black Guardian said, staring at the Gem on her wrist with a slight smile before she looked back at Dimitria. "So... does this Gem mean-?"

"No," Dimitria replied with a shake of her head. "You possess no magic in yourself; the Gem merely grants you the powers of the Black Guardian, and nothing more. Indeed, I am not certain what powers you _do _possess now that you control the Gem, I must confess; it was created to be wielded by a wizard, and you yourself possess no such powers."

"Well, I've used it to fight already; doesn't that-?" the girl began.

"You have accessed merely the most basic powers; whether you can access the _full _potential of the Black Gem is another matter," Dimitria interjected. "I shall do what I can to assist you, but it will take time for you to fully understand the scale of the power that now is yours to possess..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but the young woman sitting before her understood what Dimitria meant; with the scale of the danger that the Hogwarts Guardians were currently facing taken into account, she couldn't afford to waste time that could be better spent on helping them.

"Right," she said, standing up and flexing her shoulders in preparation for whatever was to come. "Let's get on with this then, shall we? Obvious question first; what zord do I have?"

* * *

For the rest of that day, across the world, three different groups prepared for the challenges that lay ahead of them.

Jason pushed the Hogwarts Guardians to their physical limits as they danced and wove around the fields near the picnic area where they had stopped for their current conversation, Hermione quickly developing a knack for aikido while Ron relied on a more 'brute force' approach to combat, Ginny and Harry demonstrating an intriguing blend of power and speed...

The Black Guardian Gem's new owner practised at controlling the power she now possessed, learning about the fine details of her new physical limitations as she listened to Dimitria's warnings about the consequences of abusing the power she now wielded and the resources of the enemy that she would have to fight if she retained that power...

And, in a distant fortress of pain, suffering and hatred, the ruler of that domain set his focus to turn an already formidable weapon into a tool that would provide him with a far clearer idea of his enemy's capabilities than what he possessed at present, as he prepared to begin his search for a new and deadly weapon against his enemies.


	25. Deductions of Mentality

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"Ouch..." Ron muttered, rubbing his still-sore shoulder as he glanced over at Jason. "Did you have to _throw _so hard?"

"Once you get a better feel of what you don't want to give the other guy the chance to do after getting an example of it, you've got a better chance of pulling through a fight without getting too injured," Jason said, shrugging slightly as he looked at Ron. "I know it hurts, but trust me; compared to what you _could _end up dealing with, I'm being fairly easy on you at the moment."

"I get _that_, I just wish you could be a _bit _easier on me when things have been a bit _quiet_," Ron said, sighing in frustration at the glare Jason directed at him. "I know, I know, I'm not going to have that luxury when we _are _in a fight, I'm just not _used _to this..."

With Harry, Ginny and Hermione working on some of their own training off to the side- Harry and Ginny's Quidditch-honed reflexes had adapted fairly well to some of the faster hand-to-hand skills they'd developed over the last few weeks, and Hermione was getting a good grasp of the theory even if the practise sometimes eluded her-, Jason indicated a nearby rock where Ron could sit down, Earth's original Red Ranger taking up position opposite Ron as he smiled slightly at the Yellow Ranger.

"Having issues, huh?" he said.

"Who wouldn't?" Ron asked, looking back at him with a slight exasperation on his face. "I mean, I knew this whole 'Hogwarts Guardian' thing wasn't going to be easy, but I'm just not _used _to this."

"You did pretty good up against Malfoy-" Jason began.

"The guy had less experience than me and _way _too big a head; it's not the same as going up against something that's _just _there to kill you," Ron countered. "Basiliskdor almost got me because I didn't know what I was _doing_; if you guys hadn't been quick enough I'd be _dead_-"

"It happens to the best of us," Jason said, smiling at Ron in a reassuring manner. "Trust me on this; hell, I once got turned into a gold statue of myself despite having over two years' experience at the Ranger thing, and don't get me _started _on the stories I heard about the time Zedd and Rita stole the Pink Power Coin..."

"Stole the what?" Ron asked.

"Oh, back when I started out as a Ranger we got our powers from these five Power Coins that gave us our powers when we called upon the power within them," Jason explained, briefly smiling at the memories of his relief when he'd heard how this story had concluded- he'd always regretted not being able to be there for the girl a part of him would always consider a kind of sister when he'd heard about her power loss, even if he'd known that Tommy and the others would do everything they could for Kim- before he turned his attention back to Ron. "About a year after I left the Ranger business for a while, Zedd and Rita managed to weaken the team by stealing the Pink Power Coin and using it to partly drain the Pink Ranger's powers until the team was able to steal the coin back."

"And... that's encouraging?" Ron asked, looking slightly incredulously at the White Ranger. "From what you've told us, your team set the _standard_ for this thing, and _they_-!"

"The point is," Jason interjected, looking resolutely at Ron as he spoke, "even the most experienced Ranger isn't immune to taking some knocks in a fight; you shouldn't put yourself down just because you're not automatically brilliant at it, OK? What's important in a fight isn't always winning; what's important is learning from the times that you _don't _win and taking your cues from those lessons so that it doesn't happen again."

"Well... point, I suppose..." Ron said, shrugging briefly as he looked awkwardly back at Jason before sighing in frustration. "Guess I'm just not used to thinking this... _fast_ under pressure; at least in chess you've got time to plan your moves, and when I was Keeping on the team at school you've normally got some warning about when you're going to be needed..."

"And when you're in a fight like the ones we've been dealing with so far it's a lot more automatic and you're left with a lot less time for forward planning, huh?" Jason said, smiling slightly at Ron. "Yeah, Harry told me a bit about that; you play chess a bit at school, right?"

"Bit, yeah..." Ron said, shrugging slightly as he looked back at his new friend. "I mean, it's not like I'm a professional or anything, and it's been a while since I've been able to do it what with everything _else _that's going on right now, but-"

"From what they told me, you actually helped save the day with an interesting bit of chess-playing back in your first year; don't underestimate what that game can teach you about tactical thinking," Jason said, looking reassuringly at his new teammate. "You might not be kung-fu-fighting with the best of them yet, but you've got a good tactical mind, and don't forget that you _were _our main player in stopping Malfoy from using the power of his gem."

He smiled. "Besides, don't count out the help the power gives you; when I started this, one of my teammates didn't have that much combat ability- his main strength was his ability to come up with some of the gadgets we'd need for dealing with the more unusual monsters-, but by the time I left the team a bit later he was kicking monster ass with the best of them."

Although still looking somewhat dejected, Ron nevertheless gave Jason a brief smile at the Red Ranger's advice.

"Thanks," he said, nodding at his new friend.

"Any time," Jason said reassuringly. "Just remember one thing; no matter what doubts you might feel about your abilities, the power wouldn't have selected you if you weren't worthy of it. You've maybe got a bit to go before you've got a handle on the physical side of things, but your spirit's ready for the challenge of wielding the responsibility of being the Yellow Power Ranger; all you have to do is channel it the right way."

"I'll... work on that," Ron said, before he stood up and turned to directly face Jason once again. "Shall we try this again?"

* * *

"You know," Hermione said a couple of hours later, the group sitting in another small diner after the day's training had concluded as she studied a map spread out in front of her, occasionally glancing at the faintly-glowing gem that was the only real indication of the location of the next horcrux "the more I think about this, the more I wonder if there's something more to Voldemort's choice of hiding-place for his horcruxes..."

"In what way?" Harry asked.

"Look at Voldemort's last hiding-place; he hid his horcrux in a city that had been the home of one of the previous teams of Power Rangers?" Hermione explained. "I mean, he probably didn't know that Wes and Eric were still there- I took a look at the city's news archives before we left and it doesn't look like they've morphed that much since the rest of the Time Force Rangers left; it would be fairly easy to miss the times when they _have _morphed unless you already knew there were still Rangers there and were looking for reference to them in the first place-, but why did he select that particular city? You've got to admit, it's not exactly in keeping with his usual choices..."

"And what _are _his 'usual choices', anyway?" Jason asked, looking curiously between his new team.

"Well... according to Dumbledore, he found one horcrux in the house where Voldemort's mother had grown up- a way of paying some kind of 'homage' to where he'd come from, you know-, another in a cave where Voldemort had apparently performed a particularly elaborate 'trick' on some of his fellow orphans as a child, and a third was given to one of his more loyal Death Eaters before he... well, _died_ for a while..." Hermione said, momentarily uncertain about the correct term for the state Voldemort had been in after his first confrontation with Harry before she continued talking. "Anyway, Silver Hills doesn't have anything like that- there's no record that Voldemort even bothered to come to America in his life before now; everything written about him states that he did most of his training in the Dark Arts in Europe and since then he's tended to focus his attention on Britain-, so why would he plant a horcrux there and a horcrux in this... Reefside place-?"

Jason suddenly burst into a fit of coughing as the coffee he was drinking apparently went down the wrong way, Ginny leaning over to thump him on the back as he gasped for air before he seemed to regain his composure.

"S-sorry; went d-down the wrong pipe..." Jason stuttered, waving off the concern of his teammates as he looked at Hermione. "We're going to Reefside?"

"Well, assuming that I'm reading the map right- and that the 'direction' we're getting from the gem is accurate; it's possible that things will change as we get nearer-, it _looks _like we're going in the right direction for that city to be our destination; is that important?" Hermione asked.

"Could say that," Jason replied with a slightly amused smile. "Reefside's home to Earth's best Ranger."

"Really?" Ron said, looking at Jason in surprise.

"Yep," Jason confirmed with a nod. "Now-Doctor Tommy Oliver; he started out as Earth's first Green Ranger- was initially brainwashed by Rita to fight against my team before we managed to break the spell-, went on to become the White Ranger when the Green Ranger powers were drained by a spell Rita had cast, served as team leader as the Red Zeo and Red Turbo Rangers after the original powers were lost, got a degree in palaeontology after a brief racing career following his retirement from the Ranger game, and, last time I saw him, he was teaching science at Reefside High after a brief career as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger."

"Hold on; he's been _four _different colours?" Ginny said, her eyes wide as she looked at Jason.

"Using six different power sources- when he was the White Ranger he went from using the Dino Power Coins to the Ninja Power Coins after a particularly difficult fight-; he's definitely had one of the more... interesting... Ranger careers since Zordon created the first modern team," Jason said, smiling slightly at his teammate's surprise before his expression became more serious. "The point is, if Voldemort left this horcrux at Reefside, there's a chance that we can bring in the Dino Thunder team to help us if we can recharge their Dino Gems- their power sources; last time I spoke to Tommy he told me that they drained their powers to stop their bad guy-; if what happened last time's any indication, anything involving a horcrux is going to prompt this guy to hit us with something a bit tougher than normal..."

His voice trailed off as he looked up, a smile on his face as a thought occurred to him. "Hold on..."

"You have an idea?" Ginny asked.

"_Maybe_..." Jason said, looking over at his team's Green Ranger with a casual smile. "It's a long shot, but it just occurred to me that Ransik and Mesogog- the Time Force and Dino Thunder team's main enemies- had one thing in common."

"Which was?" Hermione asked.

"Well," Jason continued, "when you strip their motivations down to the basics- you know, avoid looking at what was specific about them, with Ransik focusing on mutants and Mesogog wanting to basically restore the dinosaurs, and consider their plans in general terms-, both of them essentially wanted the same thing; for their 'stronger' species to replace humanity."

"Really?" Harry said, smiling slightly as he looked at Jason. "That... _does _make sense..."

"What; you think he chose to stick his horcruxes in those cities because he sympathised with what they were trying to accomplish?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows inquiringly.

"_Possibly_, anyway..."Jason said, as he looked over at Harry. "What do you think; sound like the kind of thing he'd do?"

"Well... it's something to _think _about, anyway," Harry said, nodding in agreement at Jason before he decided to focus on another issue raised by this suggestion. "So... if that's the case, what other Ranger villains could fit that criteria?"

"Good question," Jason said, nodding back at his new friend as he sat back in his seat and thought. "Well, since I kind of doubt this guy's mastered space travel, we can probably knock the Lost Galaxy Rangers and the Terra Venture colony off our list, and the Space Rangers didn't really have a 'home city' given how often they spent out in the universe; of the Earth-based villains, Lothor just wanted to destroy everything for the power _he'd _gain- Voldemort strikes me as the kind of bad guy who wants to overturn the old social order rather than wipe it all out-, everything Master Org did was primarily just based around personal revenge against the world with the Orgs serving as his tool more than anything- he didn't actually have any kind of plan for what he'd do afterwards-, and the demons the Lightspeed Rescue team faced were more interested in destruction than conquest..."

"So... you're thinking that Voldemort chose to hide his horcruxes where Ransik and Mesogog attacked because he... _identified _with them more?" Harry asked, looking at Jason uncertainly. "I dunno, it seems like a bit of a stretch..."

"I get that, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong," Jason pointed out, still staring at Harry as he spoke. "The important thing here is if _you _think it's possible; you said yourself that you know Voldemort better than anyone."

"Well... _maybe_..." Harry said at last, nodding uncertainly at Jason as he sat back to turn the suggestion over in his mind. "If we assume that he thinks using Rita's power will get him what he wants, he might feel some kind of weird 'loyalty' to the Ranger villains he most identified with; he definitely seems to have a bit of an attachment to Hogwarts given that it was where he learned who he 'really' was..."

Further contemplation was cut short by the sound of an explosion outside the diner, prompting the group to quickly leave their table- Jason leaving a few notes to cover the cost of the food they'd consumed- and dash outside, their eyes quickly falling on a rather strange-looking monster that briefly reminded Jason of Lipsyncher, except that this monster was clearly masculine and possessed a darker colour scheme than the creature that Zedd had created out of Kimberly's lipstick, along with a more pointed 'head', and the things on its shoulders reminded him uncomfortably of bones...

* * *

"Oh no..." the new Black Ranger said, her voice low as she stared at the sight on the viewing globe that Dimitria had established to allow her to watch her future teammates. "_That _doesn't look good..."

"It is not," Dimitria nodded solemnly from where she 'stood'- in holographic form, anyway- alongside her current protégé. "The Rangers shall do well, but this foe possesses unique abilities; combined with its intimate connection to their enemy, and this upcoming battle will be... difficult for them."

"Right then," the young girl said, standing up with a resolute smile. "In that case, they're going to need me-"

"No," Dimitria said simply.

"What?" the girl said, spinning around to look incredulously at Dimitria. "But... you can't be serious; I _have_ to _help _them-!"

"You are not ready, Black Guardian," Dimitria said, shaking her head as she looked at the young woman before her. "Your training is still limited; you have yet to fully master the power within you-"

"I _know _it's risky, but I have to _try_; that's why the Gem _gave _me this power in the first place, you said it yourself!" the Black Ranger protested, looking desperately at her new mentor. "Look, you've already modified the zords so that we can combine if we need to, and I can stay _really _focused when it's something I want; so long as I'm careful, I'm _sure _that I can control them!"

She knew that she sounded almost embarrassingly like the somewhat needy child she'd been when she was younger, but she couldn't help it; the need to actually _do _something at this point was something she couldn't ignore.

Even the knowledge that she was doing exceptionally well controlling a power that had never been intended to be used by someone like her- according to Dimitria the Black Gem had been created to be used by a natural wizard or witch who used a wand; the fact that she was able to control it at all was definitely something to be proud of, even if it currently took a great deal of concentration to maintain her armour- didn't detract from the fact that she wanted to actually be _using _that power to help rather than just _learning _how to do so; what was the point in this power if she wasn't able to use it to help others?

After she had gazed desperately at Dimitria for a few moments, Dimitria sighed and nodded.

"So long as you take care not to over-exert yourself..." she said, her eyes narrowing slightly under her veil as she looked at the Black Ranger.

"Hey, I'm not talking about diving in right now; I just want to be there if they _need _me-" the Black Guardian began.

"Even then, you _must_ be careful, Black Guardian," Dimitria said, her tone unusually grim as she spoke. "The mental control you require to sustain that gem on your own is significant, and should not be overworked before you can successfully control it. You cannot wield your powers to their fullest extent for too long; you must time your use of it for when you are most needed and depart immediately afterwards. You are clear about this?"

Even as the Black Guardian nodded in acceptance of her mentor's advice, she couldn't completely stop herself from smiling at the thought of what was coming up.

As much as she didn't _want _people to be in danger so that she could get a chance to use her zords- and she acknowledged Dimitria's concerns about what could happen to her if she used her powers too much at this stage-, the thought of finally getting a chance to fight as an actual _Ranger _was too cool for her to feel _totally _calm about it...


	26. Wandemort VS Hogwarts Superzord

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"_Avada Kedavra_!" the creature yelled, extending one arm to launch a blast of green light at a nearby young woman, the woman falling to the ground immediately (Jason couldn't stop a slight twinge of fear at the sight; Zedd and Rita's monsters had never been pretty, but they didn't kill indiscriminately on a small scale, even if the property damage they caused when they grew was almost impossible to properly calculate...).

"Oh no..." Harry whispered, his eyes widening as he stared at the creature in front of them.

"What?" Jason asked, looking back at Harry. "You recognise that thing?"

"I do..." Harry said, nodding grimly as he looked back at Jason. "It's Voldemort's wand."

"Oh, so that's- it's _what_?" Ron said, spinning around to look incredulously at Harry. "His sodding _wand _is _walking about_ by _itself_?"

"Well... it makes sense, when you think about it," Hermione pointed out. "After all, with Rita's staff, it's not like he _needs _his old wand any more- he probably doesn't even need to bother with serious duels now; if what we've seen him create so far is any indication of what he can do with Rita's staff, the power he can wield with that thing probably makes it hard for anyone to fight him directly even if he loses a great deal of mobility due to its size-, so he... figured that this was the best way to use the old one; turn it into an active weapon against us."

"_Great_..." Harry muttered, glancing at his own wand for a moment before he shrugged and turned his attention back to their latest threat, leading the group hastily into a nearby alley as they rolled up their sleeves to expose their gems. "Well, guys, time to get back to work; Hogwarts Guardians, _attivare_!"

As soon as the command had been issued, the Hogwarts Guardian Rangers leapt into action, charging out from the alley to charge towards the monster that was already turning towards them with a satisfied smile on its 'face'.

"_Protego_!" the creature yelled, raising one hand to generate a force field that effortlessly stopped the Guardians in their tracks even as they leapt towards it, the resulting barrier sending the guardians flying backwards before they even reached their foe.

"_Ouch_..." Ron muttered, wincing slightly as he got back to his feet, clutching at his sore shoulder. "_That _sucked..."

"Foolish Guardians!" the creature said, spitting scathingly at the five people before him. "You didn't think that _Wandemort_ could be defeated _that _easily, did you? I am the agent of the greatest Dark Lord ever to exist-!"

"_Silencio_!" Harry yelled, thrusting his blade forward in frustration, only for the spell's energy to change direction and strike Harry's blade before he could think to try and stop it.

"Harry?" Jason asked, looking apprehensively at his team's leader. "You OK?"

"It's nothing; should have remembered that..." Harry said, looking apprehensively at 'Wandemort'.

"Remembered what?" Jason asked.

"Harry and Voldemort's wands share cores- basically the wand's power source- in the form of tail-feathers from the same phoenix," Hermione explained, the rest of the Guardians drawing their blades to stare apprehensively at Wandemort. "The only time they tried to attack each other directly-"

"The connection I have to the boy's wand stopped me attacking him and triggered a reverse-spell effect that resulted in him making me relive some recent spells I'd cast, if you must know," Wandemort said, twirling his long hands in a bored manner as he looked at the Guardians. "Well, at least that answers the question of _who _you are; my old master had _some _ideas, of course- what other group would be foolish enough to challenge him with such a strange bit of magic?-, but he still didn't know for _certain_..."

"You know what?" Jason said, glaring at his opponent as he raised Saba. "You talk _way _too much."

With that, he leapt forward, slashing at Wandemort with the sword even as the wand-based opponent nonchalantly fending off his assault, its long arms serving as effective sword substitutes even as its movements demonstrated a comparatively limited knowledge of physical combat. The combat only lasted a moment before Wandemort cried "_Impedimenta_!" and Jason's body became temporarily immobilised, Ginny quickly diving in to block the creature's next assault with a Disarming spell that knocked Wandemort off-balance for a crucial moment.

"Brave, but foolish, Miss... Weasley, is it?" Wandemort asked, looking at the Green Ranger with a slight smile as she moved to protect the briefly-frozen White Ranger. "I should have expected that my master's influence would leave you... particularly inclined towards his House-"

Further comments from Wandemort were halted as Ginny aimed her Guardian Blade at its face and launched a powerful Blasting Hex at it. The spell simply knocked Wandemort off-balance rather than causing him any actual damage, but it was enough for Ginny to get back to her feet and kick her opponent in the chest, knocking him to the ground before he could fight back himself.

"For your information, _Wandemort_," Ginny said, her eyes narrowed behind her mask as she looked at the new monster, "I got the Slytherin Gem because of my _determination_; anything your 'master' did to me had _nothing _to do with it!"

"Just keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel more comfortable with the power you wield, Miss Weasley," Wandemort said, getting back to his feet with a frustratingly nonchalant manner as he looked at the group. "Anyway, if you wish to fight, let us proceed; _crucio_!"

As he aimed his pointed arms at Ron and Hermione, the Yellow and Blue Rangers briefly screamed at the sudden agony before they forced the pain to the side, gritting their teeth as they stared resolutely back at their foe, neither of them willing to give him the satisfaction of letting him know what kind of pain he was causing them. Raising their blades, the two Rangers each launched a blast of magic at the sentient wand, only for their spells to be casually deflected with a shield charm that the two only just managed to avoid.

With his wand relatively useless as a magical weapon in this fight, Harry charged into action with his blade, slashing away at Wandemort as the creature that had once been his wand's brother parried his blows with its 'arms'. The fight was relatively one-sided at first- at this kind of close range Wandemort couldn't get off a good shot with its magic, and the creature's practical knowledge of this kind of combat was significantly more limited than Harry's current training-, but then Wandemort knocked Harry's blade to the side and hit him with a raw blast of magic to the chest. It wasn't any specific kind of spell, but its sheer power was enough to send Harry flying backwards, his suit smoking slightly from the force of the blast, although Wandemort was prevented from following up the attack when Ron and the once-again-mobile Jason charged into him at full force.

"Keep up the pressure, Ron!" Jason yelled, kicking out at his opponent while his teammate launched a somewhat haphazard string of punches at the creature before him; Ron's combat style might be basic, but it could get the job done when they needed it. "We've got him on the ropes!"

"You think that _you _can stop me, mudblood?" Wandemort asked, its tone mocking even as the rapid movement of its arms as it tried to deflect the White and Yellow Rangers' blows hinted at the effort it required to fend off the Rangers' latest attack. "You do not even _possess _magic-!"

"Which means I know what to do when things get up close and _personal_, ugly!" Jason countered, punching Wandemort in the face with a powerful blow that knocked the creature off its feet.

Although Jason acknowledged that the blow had mainly worked because Wandemort hadn't been expecting it- like its former master, Wandemort's hand-to-hand combat experience was limited to the point of being non-existent, but that definitely didn't make it physically weak-, it was enough for him to follow the attack up with a couple of quick kicks before Ron grabbed the creature's arm and threw it over himself.

As Wandemort struck the ground, Ron tried to impale it with his Guardian Blade, but the attempt proved fruitless as Wandemort struck out with a wild punch that hit Ron before the blade could reach his enemy, simultaneously knocking the Yellow Guardian into his white-clad mentor.

With their teammates down, the Blue and Green Rangers charged towards their foe, ready for Wandemort's attack. As Wandemort turned towards them with his arms raised, Ginny and Hermione ducked to the ground, rolling forwards to avoid Wandemort's attempted attack before they kicked out at his legs mid-roll before getting back to their feet

With their foe on the ground for the second time in almost as many minutes, the two female Rangers quickly seized the chance provided to them, their Guardian Blades sliding almost completely through Wandemort's shoulders before he could regain his footing. Roaring in rage at the pain in his shoulders, Wandemort forced himself to his feet, the Guardian Blades quickly returning to their owners' hands as he fired further spells at them.

Spinning out of the way of the attack, Ginny and Hermione countered with their own spells, only for a subsequent Shield Charm from Wandemort to send their own curses flying back at them. The female Rangers attempted to dive out of harm's way as the blasts approached them, but they were still grazed by the spells as they descended towards the ground, their suits sparking from the unexpected contact.

"ENOUGH!" Harry roared, back on his feet as he launched a silent spell at Wandemort, the monster's injured shoulders slowing its reaction time just enough for it to be unable to block the blast. Despite this, Harry's spell had only minimal effect on Wandemort, a couple of chips flying off the creature's wood-like body without having any noticeable sign that the damage had hindered Wandemort himself, and their foe's injuries weren't serious enough to stop him lashing out with another blow from his wand-like arms at his opponent.

"On the contrary, _Potter_," Wandemort said, as he looked smugly at his now-dazed opponent, an expression of supreme self-confidence on his face that Harry recognised from the wand's master as the Red Ranger looked back at him, "things are just getting start-"

His sentence was cut short when a black-clad figure leapt in from the side, striking Wandemort with a kick to the arm that nearly fragmented the wooden limb and left the wand-based monster staggering for balance.

"_Man_, you're annoying!" the Black Ranger said, rolling her eyes as she glared sarcastically at the sentient wand on the ground in front of her, before turning around to look in an almost nonchalant manner at the other Rangers. "Hi there; I thought you might need some help, so here I am."

"Uh... thanks," Harry said, nodding slightly awkwardly at the still-unidentified Ranger as he awkwardly got to his feet. "Who are-?"

"Talk later; busy now," the Black Ranger said, turning her attention to the other Rangers while jerking her thumb over her shoulder to the recovering Voldemort. "Right now, we've got some wand-based ass to kick, so let's get on with it; what do you guys say to trying a six-on-one physical attack this time?"

"In other words, hit him all at once?" Harry asked, smiling slightly as he looked at Wandemort. "I think I can work with that."

"Count us in," Hermione added, as she and the others hurried over to join Harry and the new arrival, all thoughts of the questions that had been aroused by the Black Ranger's presence pushed aside in favour of tackling the more immediate problem facing them right now.

"OK then, guys," Jason said, drawing Saba as the other Guardians drew their own Guardian Blades, "let's show this guy why his boss made him in the first place; _hit it_!"

With that instruction, the now-six-man team charged towards the large wand, their blades slashing and hacking at the monster. Wandemort attempted to parry the attacks, but the mass assault came too quickly for their opponent to fend off everything that was sent in his direction. Even when he managed to block most of the blows that the Guardians were unleashing against him, the sheer amount of physical power being unleashed against him was enough to cause some damage to the monster's almost wooden form, culminating in a kick to whatever passed for his chest from the Black Guardian sending him falling onto his back, Jason following the kick by impaling the monster in the chest with Saba.

"NO!" Wandemort screamed as Jason withdrew Tommy's old sword from his foe's chest. "You _won't_-!"

"Do yourself a favour, and _shut UP_!" Jason yelled, kicking Wandemort in the head before he hurried over to join the other Guardians.

"Long-range?" Ron asked, raising his Blade as he looked inquiringly at Jason.

"He's already wounded; hit him with everything we've got, and it _might_ be enough to finish this," Jason said, as he glanced over at the Black Guardian. "You got a blaster or gun of some kind?"

"Like this?" the Black Guardian asked, removing a gun from a holster on her belt to show it to the White Ranger.

"Looks fine," Jason said, smiling briefly at her before he looked over at his other teammates. "OK then; everybody, just hit him hard and hit him _fast_."

"Right on," Harry said, smiling slightly as he and his friends aimed their Blades at the current monster. "Take _this_!"

For a moment, as a massive blast of raw magic, unrestrained by any limitations that might have been placed on it by casting a specific spell, emerged from the tips of the Guardian Blades to strike Wandemort's battered and damaged form, Jason thought that they had a chance...

Then Wandemort suddenly generated some kind of massive shield around himself that sent all the magic they'd been firing at him back towards its caster- his team only just managed to duck out of harm's way-, before he got back to his feet, still staring resolutely back at them even after one of his arms had taken so much damage that it seemed to be hanging on to the rest of him only by splinters.

"Ready to quit yet?" the Black Guardian asked (Harry thought he heard a slight tremor in her voice, but he didn't like to point it out; he didn't want to draw attention to a teammate's apparent weakness even if he was still uncertain about her origins), looking pointedly at Wandemort, her weapon drawn and aimed at him. "You're a _bit _out of your depth..."

"NEVER!" Wandemort screamed, before he pointed his intact arm at himself. "_Engorgio_!"

Before the Guardians could react, Wandemort had grown to a height surpassing most buildings, his arm and the rest of the damage that he had sustained in their last attack now apparently repaired as he smirked at them.

"_**How do you like your chances now, **_**mudbloods**?" he asked mockingly, as he raised a foot to stamp it on the ground near them, the Guardians only just managing to roll out of harm's way.

"Uh... 'mudblood'?" the Black Guardian asked in confusion.

"A rude name for a person with magic who was born to non-magical parents; it's not actually accurate for most of us, but I get the feeling he doesn't really care about that," Harry said, looking over at the Black Guardian as a thought occurred to him. "Uh... just to check, do you still have access to your... predecessor's... zords?"

"The Dark Zords?" the Black Guardian said with a satisfied tone. "Oh yeah, I've got them; they've been through a couple of cosmetic changes since the original guy controlled them, but they should get the job done."

"Sounds good to me," Harry said, nodding resolutely as he turned to his teammates. "OK then, let's _do _this; Guardian Zord power, _attivare_!"

"White Dragon Guardian Zord power, _now_!"

"Black Guardian zords, power up!"

As the Rangers issued their commands, their respective zords came charging towards them, the first five Guardians leaping into their respective zords as the Black Guardian took control of the Cerberus. The other Hogwarts Guardians quickly noticed that the Dark Zords had indeed changed colour; not only had the large 'S' symbols that had appeared on all of them previously vanished, but they were all a lighter shade of the colours they'd been previously, along with additional elements such as the Acromantula zord now possessing some slight traces of silver around its leg joints, as well as the addition of flecks of gold to the Cerberus and Basilisk zords that gave the impression the zords were now wearing armour of some sort.

"_Nice change, really_," Ginny noted over her radio as the Serpent zord moved into position to slither into action between the original Guardian zords and their new 'allies',

"The colour, or having them on our side?" Harry asked.

"_Both_," Ginny replied, now sounding particularly satisfied about something as she turned her attention back to the current issue. "_Particularly when it means I can do _this!"

With those words, the Serpent leapt into the air, closely followed by the Basilisk, resulting in the two snake-like zords winding around Wandemort's arms, the additional weight forcing him to the ground. No sooner had the two snake-like zords slithered off than the Cerberus, Lion and Badger zords were on top of their opponent, fangs and claws tearing and chipping away at Wandemort's wooden body with all the ferocity of their animal counterparts.

"**NO!**" Wandemort roared, a sudden burst of energy that resembled a Shield Charm bursting from him, throwing the attacking Zords off him as he leapt to his feet, both hands aimed at the central head of the Cerberus and the Lion's head (Clearly Wandemort didn't regard the Badger as an immediate threat).

"**You may have gained a momentary advantage **_**then**_**,**" Wandemort roared (Harry could swear that he could _see _the energy gathering around Wandemort's arms), "**but now I-!**"

"_Oh, shut_ up!" Hermione's voice said over the zord's radios, before the Eagle and White Dragon zords flew down towards Wandemort, the Eagle sweeping past the wand-like monster with a blur of metallic blue feathers that left deep scratches around its 'head' before the White Dragon hit it with a powerful fireball. The attacks didn't do much more than superficial damage- even the fireball simply left it singed rather than actually setting it on fire-, but damage was damage, and Harry wasn't about to complain about it.

"All right, everyone," he said, reaching over to activate the relevant controls, "bring it together; it's time to turn up the heat on this thing!"

After the brief response of confirmation from the others, the relevant systems activated, and Harry soon found himself sitting in the usual control room with Ron, Ginny and Hermione, the White Warrior and the Black Guardian Megazord standing with him around their latest foe in a triangular formation.

"Three on one, Wandemort," Ron said, a new confidence in his tone as he addressed their enemy. "Care to try us on for size _now_?"

"**Naturally**," Wandemort responded, thrusting one arm out in a stabbing motion that came close to hitting the White Warrior in the chest before Jason's zord parried the blow with its staff. The White Warrior tried to follow the block by striking at Wandemort's leg, but Wandemort managed to sidestep the attack before launching a blast of magic at the zord's face that sent him falling to the ground.

"JASON!" Ginny yelled.

"Allow me," Hermione said, resolution in her voice as she activated her own personal weapon. "Ravenclaw Boomerang, _attivare_!"

For a moment, as the Eagle zord's blue wing struck away at the monster, Harry thought they had a chance, but as soon as the wings had returned to their zord Harry recognised that Wandemort had just been playing them; there were several scratches on Wandemort's body, but they were mainly focused around his arms from where he'd apparently taken the worst of the Boomerang's assaults to stop it striking his face.

"OK, so he's tough and not exactly stupid; this still isn't _impossible_..." Hermione muttered.

"_Allow me_," the Black Guardian said suddenly, stepping forward to stand in front of Wandemort. "_Acro-guns, _fire!"

As Harry watched in surprise, the Acromantula's legs opened up from their position clamped around the main zord's chest to point in front of the main zord, the legs subsequently blazing with some kind of weapons-fire as it began to blast away at Wandemort. It didn't seem to be doing significant damage to Wandemort, but the fact that it was enough to prompt him to raise a Shield Charm was enough for Harry.

"Quick; while he's distracted!" he yelled, the zord moving forward as he activated the relevant controls. "Guardian Blade, _attivare_!"

As the Guardian Megazord's main weapon activated, the Hogwarts Guardians sent their zord charging forward, the sword swinging down to strike against the shield that was already apparently stretched from protecting Wandemort from the Black Guardian Megazord's attack...

Then Harry saw the glare in Wandemort's eyes as he looked up at them from behind the shield, and he only had enough time to realise what was happening before the monster's other arm had fired a powerful Blasting Curse at the zord's chest, chipping the Lion's ear and leaving a deep scar along the right side of the chest, nearly severing the connection between the Serpent and the Lion before Ron was able to move the zord out of harm's way.

"_Damnit_!" Ginny yelled, thrusting her zord out at Wandemort in an attempted punch that failed to do more than skim their foe's wooden structure. "This isn't _working_; he's blocking what _could _hurt him from long-range, and he's too strong for anything we could try when we're close-up to make an impact!"

"Tell me about it; we need to hit him with something he _can't_ deflect or withstand, but we've been hitting him with everything we've got _already_..." Ron cursed.

"_Look..._" the Black Guardian's voice suddenly said over the communication link between the various zords. "_It's a long shot... but I do have another idea..._"

"What?" Harry asked, regretting his sharp tone as soon as he'd spoken; he might have issues with the Black Gem's _previous _wearer, but so far the current Black Guardian Ranger had been nothing but helpful to them, and a stressful situation didn't excuse him being rude to her...

"_Mass combination..._" the Black Guardian said, as an image appeared on the screens in front of all four Guardian Rangers (Hermione was fairly sure that Jason was looking at something similar, but this wasn't the time to ask about that right now), showing various diagrams of how the proposed combination would work. "_All eight zords... coming together_."

"All _eight_?" Ron repeated incredulously. "We're having enough trouble taking this guy out when he's got _three _targets; is putting all of us in one place for him to shoot at _really _a smart move-?"

"Ron, this is the _only _thing we've got left to try; if you have a better idea, be my guest!" Hermione yelled over at the Yellow Ranger.

"Well... OK, _fine_," Ron said, sighing as he glanced over at Harry. "Your call, Harry; do we or don't we?"

If this had been any other opponent, Harry thought that he might have said no; as much as the Black Guardian had been helpful in their previous meetings, the idea of combining _all _of their zords with hers when they still didn't know her name was something he couldn't help but feel apprehensive about...

But, on the other hand, with Wandemort showing no sign of dropping any time soon, they didn't exactly have a massive amount of options available to them apart from this; they'd just have to risk it.

"All right then," he said, nodding resolutely at the Black Guardian. "Let's do it."

"_Gladly_," the Black Guardian said resolutely. "_Hogwarts Superzord_, attivare!"

As soon as the command had been issued, Harry found himself alone in the Lion's control room once again, the various zords running towards each other in preparation for the upcoming merge. With the White Warrior in the centre of the newly-assembled group, the Cerberus zord moved into position in front of Jason's zord, opening out to clamp on around the White Warrior's chest and legs to give it additional armour. As the Lion zord clamped on around the White Warrior's chest, Harry found himself in a new, larger cockpit with Jason and the Black Guardian moments before Ron joined them, the Badger having added to the new zord's already-significantly-greater height. Glancing at the image on the zord display before him, Harry watched as the Basilisk clamped on to the White Warrior's shoulders, providing additional armour and support as the Serpent and the Eagle attached themselves to the ends of the White Warrior's arms, culminating as the Acromantula clamped on to the 'Superzord's' back, its legs spreading out from its body to wrap about the other zord's arms.

"How do you like _that_?" the Black Guardian asked, sounding particularly enthusiastic as she turned to look at the other Rangers from her position at the back of the group. "Can I deliver, or can I deliver?"

"I'd say that you _definitely _manage to deliver," Jason responded, nodding resolutely at the other Ranger before he turned his attention back to Wandemort. "How about it, buddy; ready to quit _now_?"

"**When you've made me a single large target instead of three smaller ones**?" Wandemort asked, rolling his eyes incredulously. "**Why would **_**that **_**make me **_**give up**_?"

"Had to give you a chance," Harry said simply, as he drew on his Ranger-based instincts to activate the new Superzord's weapon systems. "OK then, everyone; open _fire_!"

As soon as he'd spoken, the Acromantula legs wrapped around Hermione and Ginny's zords extended upwards to unleash a burst of energy-fire against Wandemort's latest Shield Charm, the force of the assault sending Wandemort staggering once again. The Shield Charm remained intact even as the intensity of the fire power being unleashed against it increased, but the slight sway in Wandemort's stance made it clear that he'd taken more punishment than he was used to this time.

"**You...**" he growled, staring at the new zord behind his rapidly-faltering Shield Charm. "**You... won't... win...**"

"I think we already did," Ginny said, smirking at the sight in front of her.

"Time to end this," Harry said resolutely. "Super Guardian Saber, _attivare_!"

As the new Guardian Saber activated- this one including a couple of the Acromantula's legs on either side of the Blade as well as its original form-, Harry sent the zord slashing down at the Shield Charm, breaking through the spell to strike the wand-like monster directly in the face. Wandemort barely had time to scream before the Hogwarts Superzord had drawn the Saber back to stab him in the chest, the subsequent explosion as the wand's magical core 'exploded' vaporising Wandemort in a burst of brilliant green and gold energy.

"Wow..." Harry said, smiling slightly as he stared at the smoking remains of his wand's 'brother', before he turned to look at the Black Guardian with a slight smile. "Well... I guess all I can say is..."

His voice trailed off as he took in their mysterious new teammate's stance; she was leaning against her console, her breathing heavy and her shoulders trembling as though it was taking a conscious effort for her just to remain upright in her seat, even as the tight grip her hands had on the console made it clear that she wasn't about to fall over any time soon.

"Hey," Jason asked, looking over in concern at the girl in question. "Are you all-?"

"_Fine_," the Black Guardian said, a harsh edge to her voice that hadn't been there earlier, before her shoulders relaxed slightly as she shook her head at them. "Just... difficult... bit tired... have to go..."

"Wait a minute; tired?" Hermione repeated, looking at the Black Guardian in confusion. "But you were fine earlier-"

Before she could say anything else, the Black Guardian had vanished from the control room in a burst of black energy, followed by a sudden clanking sound as some of the new consoles around them began to power down and vanish.

"What the-?" Ron asked.

"It's the Dark Zords!" Hermione yelled over at her teammates. "They're separating from the rest of us; we're... well, I'm not sure _what _we're regressing to; we haven't actually needed to _use _this combination yet!"

Glancing at the information on the screen in front of him, Harry noted that she was right; their current zord combination wasn't _quite _as large as what they had been with the Dark Zords attached- the shoulders were less 'padded' without the Basilisk, and the lack of the Cerberus made the zord's legs slightly shorter and thinner-, but they still had a fair amount of power available to them that they wouldn't have had if they were fighting as separate zords.

"Well well well..." Harry said, smiling slightly as he glanced back at his friends. "Looks like we just learned about more than one new feature of our zords today, eh, guys?"

"Tell me about it; _all_ of them coming together like that?" Hermione said, smiling at the other Guardians before she looked over reflectively at the area where the Black Guardian's seat had been located. "I just wish I knew what was up with her..."

"Yeah, why does she keep running off like that?" Ron asked, looking questioningly around at his friends. "And what's with the whole thing with her not telling us who she is?"

"Got me there, guys," Jason said, shaking his head as he looked around at his friends. "I mean, I have a couple of _ideas_, but there's just not enough evidence for me to be _sure_..."

As the group sat contemplatively in their new combined Megazord, the only thing greater than their curiosity about when they'd learn the answers to the questions posed by their new apparent teammate being what would happen when they managed to find the last few horcruxes; if past experience was anything to go by, Voldemort wasn't going to let them go without a fight...


	27. Boggarts in Green and Black

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he lay in the sleeping bag and basic tent that was all they had in the way of accommodation at this stage of their journey- Hermione had been working on making it larger inside, but they hadn't managed to complete the full details of the spatial-manipulation charms yet-, Harry wondered what they'd have to face next from Voldemort's arsenal.

Not only did they still have the potential issue of that 'Goldar' person they'd faced during their first meeting with Jason- he might not have shown up again yet, but Harry wasn't willing to count on that as a sign that he was gone after all the stories Jason had told them about that guy-, but there was still a veritable menagerie of magical monsters that Voldemort could unleash against them with that ridiculously powerful wand of Rita's empowering his spells...

And then, of course, there was the issue of the Black Guardian to keep in mind; for the first time, Harry partially understood why Scrimogeur had been bothered by his and Dumbledore's independence during the previous year (Which wasn't to say he approved of it; being uncomfortable about someone's agenda didn't mean you _had _to bring them under your control, particularly when all available evidence suggested that they were on your side anyway).

He might believe that the Black Guardian's desire to help them was genuine- if she was a 'double agent' of some kind she was the worst one he'd ever seen; they might be starting to rely on her, but at the same time Voldemort would prefer them dead rather than trying to manipulate them himself-, but that didn't mean he couldn't keep wondering about _why _she was being so secretive about her real identity, to say nothing of the questions raised regarding how she knew so much about her zords or how they could combine with the other Guardian Zords; instinctive knowledge only took a person so far...

In the end, however, the main question currently facing him was the biggest; did Voldemort _know _who the Hogwarts Guardians were yet, or did they still have the advantage of anonymity to limit the likelihood of Voldemort working out a more personal plan of attack?

Jason and the Black Guardian were probably safe enough on that front- what he'd seen of the Black Guardian suggested that she didn't have any magic herself or she'd have used a spell by now, limiting the idea that Voldemort knew or cared who she was, and Voldemort hadn't given any impression that he was particularly interested in Jason himself; Goldar might be after Jason on his own, but Jason had admitted that Goldar would probably be more interested in beating him one-on-one if the chance arose rather than letting something else do it-, but there were still enough anomalies about their past confrontation with his monster to leave Harry wondering.

Malfoy and Wandemort might have known who they were, but that was because of the monsters in question identifying them by themselves rather than using information provided by Voldemort- after Malfoy had seen _him _transform working out who everyone was would have been easy-, and there wasn't any sign that either of them had had the chance to tell Voldemort what they had discovered before they were defeated (The advantage of the bad guys having an ego; they wouldn't want to share useful information before they'd been able to finish using it themselves). Even the attack on Privet Drive and the Guardians' subsequent appearance could have been them taking him into 'protective custody' rather than him

Still... Voldemort _had _to be wondering where he'd gone by now- it wouldn't exactly be a secret that he'd vanished from Privet Drive after that last assault from the Tengas, even if he doubted Voldemort would bother with the Dursleys when he had the Guardians to deal with-, and it wasn't like there was any way to know what was happening back in Britain while they were busy searching (He'd asked Dimitria once or twice if she could tell them anything, but she'd simply assured him that from what she knew Hogwarts and the Ministry will still standing and left it at that); their best bet was that their current horcrux-related activities were keeping Voldemort so focused on protecting them that he wasn't devoting as much attention to expanding his power base as he was originally.

In the end, all he really had to go on right now was guesswork, theories and hopes about how much their enemy knew about them; he just had to hope that it was enough to keep them secret...

Shaking his head, Harry turned over in his sleeping bag to settle down more comfortably for the night; they still had a long way to go before they reached the city of Reefside that seemed like the most likely candidate for the next horcrux, and there were a couple of smaller towns they'd need to stop off in on the way there for whatever supplies they might need...

* * *

"Got everything?" Hermione asked as Ron and Jason came out of the shopping centre the next morning. Having arrived in the next city on their cross-continental search, the Blue Ranger had volunteered to stand guard of the car while Harry and Ginny searched the city just to make sure there wasn't any trace of a horcrux in the area, leaving Ron and Jason to pick up whatever food and drink they might need for the next stage of the trip.

"Well, _I _think so, but Ron here still seems to think we could use a bit more," Jason said, smiling slightly as he indicated the smiling red-haired young man, who was staring with a broad grin at the bags containing their latest purchases. "Every time he saw something new, he _had _to get it; never saw a guy get that enthusiastic about food..."

"Sweets again, huh?" Hermione asked, shaking her head slightly as she looked at her old friend. "I would have thought that you'd had enough of that-"

"Are you _kidding _me?" Ron said, smiling back at her. "All these new flavours and textures... I mean, OK, they don't _do _much, but at least you know you won't end up eating ear-wax-!"

"Something could make you eat ear-wax?" Jason repeated, looking over at Ron in confusion.

"Oh, that's just these literally Every-Flavoured Beans we've got back home; there's no way of telling what you've got until you eat them, so you end up with some disturbing flavours at times," Ron clarified, as Hermione opened the boot and the three of them began to load their purchases into Jason's van. "You've got your normal flavours like chocolate and fruit, but you can also get some not-so-nice ones; George swears he got a bogey-flavoured one once, Harry ate a grass one in his first packet, and Professor Dumbledore once told Harry that he ate a vomit-flavoured Bean when he was younger."

"Ah," Jason said, swallowing slightly as he made a face at the thought of eating something that tasted like sick. "Well... _that's _not exactly something I wanted to know..."

"Yeah, that's one thing I like about muggle sweets," Ron said, smiling as he opened a bag and began to chew on the contents. "Might not move much, but at least you always _know _you're getting something good."

"It's like societies the world over, huh?" Jason said reflectively, as he shut the car boot and glanced over at his new friends with a slight smile. "Wherever you go, there's always something about the people you have to deal with to get what you're after; sometimes you can satisfy both sides, and sometimes you have to give the other guy more..."

"Speaking from personal experience?" Hermione asked curiously, as the original Red Ranger locked up his car before the three began to walk, Ron still chewing at his bag even as he joined his teammates.

"It's linked to the reason why I left the original team in the first place," Jason explained. "There was this whole 'World Teen Peace Conference' thing- bunch of teenagers were selected from various schools to represent their respective countries at a mass peace conference; the idea was that teenagers would be more capable of 'cutting through the crap' and focusing on what _mattered _rather than adults-, and me, Zack and Trini- the original Black and Yellow Rangers- were selected to represent it from Angel Grove and America. I did a bit of good in my time there- helped a few smaller groups settle their differences by pointing out the holes in their arguments, that kind of thin-, but I was actually kind of relieved to get back into the Ranger gig after they needed a new host for the Gold Ranger powers; I'm more an action guy than a talking guy..."

"You'd rather deal with a problem you can punch than something you have to talk over, huh?" Ron finished for him.

"Well, it's not like I'm a violent guy- I just know how to defend myself, I don't go _looking _for fights-, but the point is that I could be more certain that I was making the right kind of impact as a Ranger than I could be sure that I was making a difference at the conference," Jason clarified, sighing slightly as he shook his head reflectively. "I might have spent most of my time there talking with other people about how we could do things better, but that didn't mean that they were automatically going to listen to what I had to say; at least with a Ranger, I _know _that what I'm doing is helping others, even if it's just by making sure that the current monster doesn't hurt anybody."

"Yeah, it's hard to talk to someone who doesn't want to hear it; trust me, I speak from... experience," Hermione said, looking over at Ron with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Hey!" Ron said, looking indignantly over at his teammate. "I'm not _that _bad!"

"Ron, apart from when you needed my help with classes and had therefore _asked _for my help, did you ever listen to anything I had to tell you?" Hermione asked, holding up a hand to halt Ron as he opened his mouth. "And the events that led to us starting the D.A. don't count; the only people who _weren't _concerned about Umbridge's attitude towards education at that point were-"

"_Hold it right there, Red Ranger_!" a voice suddenly said from off to the side.

Spinning around, Ron and Hermione were confused at the sight of a tall figure dressed in a green spandex-like uniform that was clearly that of a Power Ranger, apart from the unusual anomaly of the golden 'armour' he was wearing around his chest and shoulders, carrying a long curved sword in one hand and a short dagger in the other as he glared at them.

"Who the-?" Ron asked, turning to look at Jason inquiringly, only to be greeted with the unexpected sight of their seemingly-unflappable mentor to the Ranger game staring in shock at the new arrival.

"No..." Jason whispered, his head shaking from side to side in shocked denial of the new arrival. "It can't be you... I _destroyed _that sword... you're _not HIM_-!"

"On the contrary, Red Ranger; I _am _the Green Ranger!" the green-clad figure said, an obvious self-satisfied edge to his voice as he glared at them. "My Empress may have fallen, but my new master controls her power and more besides; just because I have changed masters does not mean that my power has altered!"

"OK, no idea _who _you are, but right now I don't really care," Ron said, as he and Hermione drew their wands with a resolute glare at the new arrival after making sure that there was nobody in the immediate area to see them morph. "Hufflepuff Guardian, _attivare_!"

"Ravenclaw Guardian, _attivare_!"

As the two former Hogwarts students shifted into their combat attire, their green foe assumed his own combat stance, but then Ron stepped forward, his attention focused on the creature, and suddenly...

Hermione wasn't sure how or why it happened, but as Ron advanced towards the thing in front of them, it seemed to _shift _for a few moments, the distinctive green of the other Ranger's uniform changing to a dark, furry-looking brown and long legs extending from the creature's sides, but the moment passed and the Green Ranger reappeared, as solid and threatening as he had been before.

"Huh?" Ron said, looking at the other Ranger in confusion. "Did you just-?"

"NO!" the Green Ranger roared, drawing his sword as he charged towards Ron, his sword moving with a speed and force that Ron could only just parry with his Guardian Blade. "I am the Green Ranger! _I am your destruction_! _I AM_-!"

A sudden kick from a form in white to his head sent the Green Ranger flying for a moment, their new foe getting back to his feet just in time for the White Ranger to assume a combat stance as he glared at his enemy.

"I might be afraid of the guy you _seem _to be," Jason said, shaking his head resolutely as he looked between his teammates, "but I'm not so afraid that I don't know a fake when I see one; you've got so many holes in your technique it's _ridiculous_."

"What?" Hermione said, looking between Jason and the Green Ranger. "You... know this guy?"

"I think I mentioned that I fought an evil Green Ranger during my original career, right?" Jason asked, smiling slightly grimly under his helmet when his two new teammates nodded. "_This _is the guy... or at least, he _looks _like him; any ideas about what could do this?"

"Well, there is..." Hermione began uncertainly.

"You're a _boggart_!" Ron said, snapping his fingers as he pointed at the Green Ranger.

"He's a what?" Jason asked.

"A creature that turns itself into what the person confronting it is most afraid of; they're normally fairly straightforward- something that intimidates you more by its presence rather than actually something that _talks _to you-, but judging by what we've dealt with so far, this one must have been given an upgrade by Voldemort," Hermione clarified.

"Which is why it started growing spider-legs back when I stepped forward!" Ron finished, a satisfied smile on his face as he looked at the creature.

"Hold on; you're afraid of spiders?" Jason said, looking over at the Yellow Ranger.

"Childhood experience; long story," Ron said, waving a hand awkwardly before he turned his attention back to the Green Ranger, who was now staring silently at the three gathered Rangers. "So... why'd this guy assume that appearance in particular?"

"We're... well, our greatest fears are more fears of a _concept_ than anything else..." Hermione said, nodding reflectively. "From what he said, I'm assuming that there's something... _specific_ about that Green Ranger that scares you?"

"Guy cut us off from our mentor, sent me to a dimension where I had to fight Goldar without my morpher before trying to kill _me _in a fight, nearly destroyed our zords, and then started trashing the city with his own zord before we managed to break the spell that was making him evil," Jason responded, still staring solemnly at the Green Ranger. "Add in the fact that the guy who used those powers still had to struggle with his own issues about the time he spent under Rita's control even after we freed him from her influence, and-"

"_ENOUGH_!" the faux-Green Ranger roared, charging towards the Rangers with a long, slightly curved sword in his hand that Jason was only just able to parry with Saba; evidently, this 'boggart' could tolerate being physically ignored so long as it was still the current topic of discussion, but its patience could only go so far. "You shall _die_ for your defiance of my Master, Guardian Rangers!"

"If the original Green Ranger couldn't pull it off, what makes you think _you _can do it?" Jason countered, following up his statement by swinging the sword out of harm's way and kicking his foe in the chest. As the Boggart-Ranger staggered back for a moment, Jason lunged forward once again, the two sides engaging in a flurry of motion as their swords clashed against each other, leaving Ron and Hermione to look at each other for a moment before Hermione shrugged and activated her Guardian Gem.

"Harry, Ginny?" she said, glancing around briefly to make sure that nobody else could hear her addressing her teammates.

"_Yeah_?" Harry's voice replied from the Gem. "_What's up_?"

"We're dealing with a boggart that's currently posing as the evil Ranger Jason faced in his original career," Hermione responded.

"_Ah_," Harry said, before an exasperated sigh came across the line. "_We'll be right there_."

Almost as soon as the connection had terminated, the Red and Green Guardian Rangers were standing alongside their teammates, watching as Jason's blade clashed with the sword in the Green Ranger's hands; even their amateur combat experience was enough to determine that Jason was the superior fighter, but the Green Ranger's speed and endurance were allowing him to evade and cope with more blows than those that Jason was able to unleash against him.

"It _had _to be the Green Ranger, didn't it?" Ginny said, raising her face to the sky in frustration. "I'm trying to cope with the fact that I have a zord based on something that I almost used to kill people, and now it turns out that the first person in modern history to use my colour started out as a psycho."

"Actually, Jason did mention that the first Green Ranger went on to be recognised as pretty much the greatest Ranger of them all after the spell that was used to turn him evil was broken-" Hermione pointed out.

"Less talking, more butt-kicking," Harry interjected, raising his blade and launching into action, slashing away at the Green Ranger even as the boggart-generated 'illusion' moved fluidly into action against its adversary, Jason stepping back to give his new team's leader a chance.

For a moment Jason held out hope that the creature would try to transform like it had when Ron had moved to the front of their group, but apart from a brief moment where the Dragon Shield seemed to have sprouted some kind of long black cape from its back the 'boggart' remained the Green Ranger, neatly deflecting Harry's attempts to attack him as it fought against him. Hermione and Ron attempted to catch the new monster off-guard with a sneak attack from behind, but the Green Ranger spun around to deflect the blows with his sword even as he blocked Harry's attack with his dagger.

"Oh, _crap_," Jason said to himself; a move like that would have been risky even for an experienced combatant, and the boggart's earlier skills had relied more on what he remembered of Tommy's youthful speed compared to his own age-

_What he remembered_...

Despite his usual rule against swearing when he was in his Ranger uniform- he was responsible for defending humanity; he had to set an _example _to other people when he was dressed like this-, Jason came closer to breaking it than he ever had before.

The boggart must be drawing on his own _memories _of Tommy's combat skills to improve its abilities...

"NO!" he yelled, charging forward just as the Green Ranger began to swing the Sword of Darkness in a move that could have taken Hermione's head off if it had reached its intended target.

"What-?" the Blue Ranger began, looking between her new mentor and their current enemy in confusion, before Jason swung his sword in a rapid circle that sent the Green Ranger briefly staggering. Jason followed the attack up by kicking the Ranger-shaped boggart in the chest, knocking him off-balance and back for a few crucial feet, allowing the other Hogwarts Guardians to gather around the White Ranger.

"I take it that there's a problem about this thing we should know?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, you could say that; he's using my memories of how the original Green Ranger fought to enhance his combat skills!" Jason explained, looking urgently between his teammates as he tried to make them understand the severity of the situation.

"The original was pretty good, huh?" Ginny said, clearly voicing the thoughts of her teammates.

"First time he and I fought, we ended up drawing, and that was _before _he'd spent any time as Ranger while I'd been in the game a few months," Jason clarified.

"OK, that sounds like-" Ron began, before a blast to his back sent him flying forward to crash into Ginny and Harry where they stood opposite him, leaving Jason and Hermione to turn around and face the Green Ranger.

"Good guess, White Ranger!" the being that Jason was starting to think of as the Green Boggart said, smirking at his remaining two immediate threats. "But it won't do you any good-!"

"Ke-YAA!" another voice suddenly yelled, followed by the now-familiar form of the Black Guardian Ranger leaping onto the field and kicking out at the Green Boggart, their enemy once again staggering as their mysterious near-teammate took up position between the other Guardians and the Green Boggart.

"You're back?" Ginny said, wishing she could take the statement back as soon as she'd said it; she didn't want to sound like she wasn't grateful for the Black Ranger's help...

"Yep; that's me," the Black Ranger said, sounding rather pleased with herself as she turned back to face the Green Boggart. "Now then, you stupid-"

Right in front of the Guardians' eyes, as soon as the Green Boggart had registered the Black Ranger's presence, its appearance suddenly shifted into a new form. While its appearance was still fairly obviously a Power Ranger, it was now dressed in an almost pure black outfit with white gloves and boots, along with a white line along its chest with five coloured differently-coloured rectangles on it.

"Oh God; _you're _back?" the Boggart said, its voice having changed along with its appearance as it looked at the Black Ranger. "What the hell do you think you're _doing_?"

"Wh-?" the Black Ranger began, her earlier confidence apparently lost in the face of this unexpected development.

"Actually, you know what, don't bother; you're still just screwing around, aren't you?" the boggart said, looking disdainfully at her as he took a step towards the new arrival, scorn practically radiating off him. "You couldn't take anything seriously back when you were a kid and you haven't changed a bit as you grew up, have you; just mucking around and diving in whenever it's convenient for you-"

"I'm still getting the hang of this-!" the Black Ranger protested (Harry knew that he should probably intervene, but he couldn't help it; the Boggart didn't seem to be actually _hurting _the Black Ranger right now, and it was giving them a unique chance to learn more about their mysterious new ally...).

"You should have just given up that dream years ago; you _suck _as a Ranger!" the Boggart practically spat. "I only let you hang around because I figured you'd leave if I stopped making it fun for you by giving you the impression I liked it; you were nothing but a stupid kid who kept on getting in the way-"

"NO!" the Black Ranger yelled, leaping towards the Boggart with her blade outstretched as though she was intending to stab him in the chest, only for her body to suddenly become illuminated with what the others could only describe as black light before she collapsed to the ground, leaving a dark-haired girl approximately a year or older than the former Hogwarts students lying on the ground, dressed in a sleeveless black top and dark trousers as she looked tearfully up at the Boggart. "I'm trying... I'm _trying_, Carlos..."

"LOOK OUT!" Ginny yelled, pointing her blade forward and launching her horse Patronus at the Boggart, the brilliant white creature striking the black-clad figure even as his appearance began to blur as though he was starting to turn back into his Green Ranger 'disguise'.

"What the _Hell_?" Ron said, urgently hurrying over to crouch down beside the demorphed Black Ranger, the rest of the team swiftly joining him even as Jason kept an eye on the temporarily-downed boggart. "What _happened _to her?"

"_She lost her emotional centre and reverted to her unmorphed form_," a voice said from Harry's Guardian Gem.

"Wh- Dimitria?" Harry said, raising his gem to address it more directly, his gaze anxiously shifting between the Gem and the Boggart as he spoke; it looked like the creature was temporarily out of it thanks to Ginny's patronus- it didn't even seem to be able to make its mind up about what it should be right now; it seemed to be shifting forms between a spider, a dementor, the previously-seen Rangers, and a couple of people in robes that Harry couldn't identify from this angle-, but just because it couldn't fight right now didn't mean it wouldn't get back up in the not-too-distant future. "You _knew _about this?"

"_I shall explain everything to you shortly, Harry Potter; for now, your immediate priority is to bring the Black Ranger to the command centre so that she has a chance to recover_," Dimitria replied, her tone far too casual for someone who'd been keeping such a secret from her team for so long. "_I shall see you there shortly_."

"But who-?" Harry began, before Jason walked over to stand behind the other Guardians and nodded at Hermione, the Blue Ranger quickly triggering the apparation...

* * *

A few moments later, the six Rangers were in the command centre, Dimitria located in the large tube where Zordon had resided during Jason's career as a Ranger, smiling serenely at the Rangers for a moment before her expression shifted to concern as she looked at the clearly shaken Black Ranger.

"_Sylvia_?" she said, looking in surprise at the young woman. "_What is wrong_?"

"Dimitria?" the girl responded, looking up at the tube as though she'd only just realised where she was, anxiety clear on her face as she took in her surroundings. "I'm... I'm a Ranger, right? I mean, I know I overdid it with Carlos, but-"

"Hold on a minute; _Carlos_?" Jason interrupted, looking pointedly at the Black Ranger. "As in Carlos Valerte? Second Green Turbo Ranger and the Black Space Ranger?"

As the current Black Ranger nodded in acknowledgement, Jason sighed in relief as though everything had just fitted neatly into place. "Of _course_... you're Silvy Larson, aren't you?"

"It's _Sylvia_ now, actually," the girl replied, apparently moving past her initial emotional weakness as she got back to her feet, smiling slightly over at the White Ranger. "As for how I'm here... well, that's a longer story."

* * *

AN: Not the best, I know, but I'm planning a more detailed fight in the next chapter, although I'll have the Rangers tackle the issue of the Black Guardian Ranger's powers and identity first, I assure you; still, hope you liked what was here.


	28. The Patronus Megazord

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"OK, so, can we start with the obvious issue of how you two know each other and work our way on from there?" Ron asked, looking in obvious confusion between Sylvia and Jason. "I mean, I get that you apparently knew a previous Black Ranger-"

"Carlos Vallerte; he was the second Green Turbo Ranger and the Black Space Ranger," Jason clarified for Ron's benefit. "I never worked with him myself, but he was chosen by one of my old teammates to replace him when the time came for them to move on from the Ranger business; he did a good job by all accounts."

"Yeah, he definitely did that; I was there when he fought the Psycho Rangers," Sylvia said, smiling at the memory.

"The who?" Ginny asked.

"The ultimate evil Rangers, to put it simply," Jason explained. "The Psycho Rangers were created to be the perfect counterpart to the Space Rangers- Carlos's second team-; each Psycho Ranger scanned the minds of their Space Ranger counterpart to predict their moves in their first confrontation, and fought them for a few months before the Space Rangers managed to figure out a way to fight them one-on-one while negating their advantage by switching opponents so that the Psychos no longer _knew _how to beat the other one."

"It was a _bit _more complicated than that, but you're essentially right, yes," Sylvia confirmed, smiling slightly grimly at the Hogwarts Guardian White Ranger before she shrugged. "Anyway, my mum was Carlos's teacher back when he was a Ranger- they had to actually continue to go to school rather than your ability to wander relatively freely; it was a lot more 'comic-book-esque' back then-, and I found out that he was a Ranger when he morphed in a photo booth and left the photograph behind because he was responding to a call from his team."

"How old were you back then?" Hermione asked

"Oh, about nine or ten; I had a birthday while the Space Rangers were active," Sylvia replied, shrugging nonchalantly at the Blue Ranger. "Carlos took me on a quick trip to the Moon and I helped Andros- the Red Space Ranger- activate his full Battleizer armour when the Psycho Rangers briefly returned, but we fell out of touch after the Space team went into semi-retirement and my mom moved to another city for work."

"Ah," Ron said, nodding slightly as he looked uncertainly at the gem on the young woman's wrist. "And... you got the Black Gem... where?"

"Found it shortly after I began my gap year; I'd just graduated from high school, but I wanted to take a year out before I headed off to college," Sylvia explained. "I was out walking a few weeks ago- I was trying to figure out what to actually _do _for the gap year; I had a couple of ideas about trips I might take, but I hadn't settled on which one to go for yet- when I found it lying on the ground in the park, looking like it had just landed there, and when I picked it up, Dimitria... well, she appeared to me."

"Yeah, on that topic, why didn't you just tell us you knew what had happened to the Black Gem in the first place?" Jason asked, turning to look pointedly at Dimitria.

"_Sylvia and I wished to ensure that she had mastered its power before she made full contact with you all_," Dimitria replied. "_When Ron Weasley converted the Black Gem to repel Draco Malfoy's influence, it also converted the Gem to allow a non-magic-wielder to use its power, but it also requires the user to concentrate to a significant degree in order to maintain control of the power and its associated weapons; Sylvia wished to be sure that she had mastered her control of the Gem before she appeared to you_."

"Just... y'know, wanted to make a good impression; I didn't want you guys to think that I was weak or impulsive or anything..." Sylvia said, looking awkwardly at the other Ranger.

"Hey," Jason said, walking over to give Sylvia a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Back when I started out as a Ranger, we went through a period where the Green Ranger's powers were almost drained- he had to get regularly 'charged up' by the rest of us just so that he could operate on an equal footing in a fight-, and we still considered him just as much a member of the team as everyone else; just because you've got a bit of trouble doesn't mean you're _weak_, OK?"

"Quite," Harry said, nodding in understanding as he looked back at Sylvia. "So... that's why you sounded a bit tired after you summoned the Dark Zords last time?"

"And why you lost control after the Boggart turned into Carlos," Jason said, a contemplative expression on his face as he looked at the first female Black Ranger he'd ever met. "Being confronted with everything you were afraid of about your worth to hold onto the power..."

"Threw off my concentration; pretty much, yeah," Sylvia confirmed. "It's getting easier to maintain control of the morph itself most of the time, but the effort needed to control the Dark Zords is a bit trickier, and like you said yourself, being faced with Carlos like that..."

She swallowed. "I mean, I get that it _wasn't _him, but that doesn't make it any easier to hear that..."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Jason said, smiling reassuringly at her. "Trust me, we've all been there to some extent; my team had to go up against a monster that made itself look like the Dragonzord- that was the zord used by the Green Ranger back in the day-, and even knowing that it wasn't him didn't make it any easier for us to fight that thing."

"Really?" Sylvia asked, looking at Jason with a hopeful smile.

"Hey, you're a Ranger now; I wouldn't lie to you," Jason said, nodding reassuringly at her. "Fighting other Rangers isn't easy even if you _know _they're not real; what's important is that you don't give up no matter the odds against you."

"We can discuss the past later; our immediate priority right now is taking out that boggart," Harry said, looking apologetically between Sylvia and Jason at his sudden interruption for a moment before he assumed a more focused expression as he looked at the new Black Ranger. "And if we're going into a fight, I have to know this right now; can you help us beat this thing, or do you need more time to get the hang of the Gem?"

"I..." Sylvia began, pausing for a moment before looking at her gem, swallowing in apprehension before she looked back at Jason and nodded resolutely. "Yes, I'm ready."

"You're sure?" Ginny asked, looking pointedly at the Black Ranger. "No offence, but you had a point in your reason for not sticking around earlier; if you can't be _sure _you'll remain in control in a fight-"

"_I can do this_," Sylvia said, her eyes narrowed as she glared back at the Green Ranger. "I'm _not _letting one slip-up ruin this; I've been training in martial arts since I knew Carlos, I've been working with the Gem for weeks, I've wanted to be a Ranger for years, and I'm not letting all that time and training go to waste just because I lost focus _once_."

After the rest of the Hogwarts Guardians had stared at their newest member for a few moments, Harry finally nodded.

"OK," he said, walking forward to place a firm hand on their new teammate's shoulder. "Just stay focused; you've been a good help to us so far, but if you don't think you can do this, I don't want you diving in to try and 'prove' yourself."

* * *

As they reappeared back in the town they'd just left, it didn't take the now-six-man team long to spot their current foe; the 'Uber-Boggart' was currently in the shape of something that could best be described as an amorphous blob, constantly shifting its appearance to such an extent that it was hard to tell what it was from one moment to the next apart from the fact that it was constantly attacking everything around it.

"Huh?" Ron said, looking at the creature in surprise. "What's up with that thing?"

"It's probably finding it hard to focus on one person's fears over everyone else's because there are so many people around it," Hermione suggested, the Blue Ranger taking in the fleeing civilians around the Uber-Boggart as its latest blow took on a form that looked like some kind of rhinoceros shattering a nearby window. "_Damn_, that thing's strong..."

"'Damn'?" Ginny repeated, looking over at Hermione with a slight smile. "That's not exactly normal for you, Hermione..."

"I'm going around in blue spandex controlling a massive metal eagle to stop the most evil wizard of our time using an alien queen's wand to conquer the world; I think I'm entitled to some foul language," Hermione countered grimly.

"On the topic of the... boggart," Sylvia began, looking hopefully around at her teammates, "if it's drawing on the fears of _everyone _around it, is there any chance that we could... overload it by making it draw on more fears than it can cope with?"

"If it hasn't suffered any side-effects from acting like that so far, I don't think it's going to experience any any time soon," Hermione responded. "Sorry, but it looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way."

"OK," Harry said, the Rangers drawing their blades to stare at their foe. "Hogwarts Guardians, _attack_!"

With that command, the six Guardians drew their weapons and charged towards the Uber-Boggart, which swiftly turned to look at them before it shrank down into a single form. Unlike their previous encounter, its new appearance was wearing the gold armour of the Green Ranger over the same Ranger's upper costume while the legs were wearing the black spandex of the Black Space Ranger, the green helmet possessing the smooth featureless 'mouth-plate' of the Space Ranger helmet as well as a black circle at the top of the head where the slight horn-like decoration had been on the Green Ranger's original helmet.

"What the...?" Sylvia said, pausing in her charge as she looked in confusion at the creature before them.

"_Move_-!" Harry began, before the Ranger-Boggart drew a gun from one of the holsters on its belt and fired it at Sylvia, Ginny only just managing to knock the Black Guardian out of the path of the attack before it struck her.

"You return to face me?" the creature said, its voice now sounding like two people speaking at once. "You are truly foolish adversaries, Rangers!"

"I prefer to think of us as persistent," Jason said, looking grimly at the creature as he drew Saba and shifted into a combat stance as the Ranger-Boggart drew its duplicate of the Sword of Darkness.

"Anyway, what's with the combo look?" Sylvia asked, sounding somewhat more relaxed now as she indicated the creature's new appearance. "I mean, it's _different_, but it's not exactly-"

"_Enough_!" the Ranger-Boggart yelled, charging towards the Rangers, the Sword of Darkness in one hand and a long black stick that Sylvia recognised as the Black Space Ranger's Lunar Lance in the other. Raising Saba, Jason managed to counter the Ranger-Boggart's attempt to strike him with the Sword of Darkness, but the Lunar Lance would had struck him in the side if Ron hadn't dived in and managed to intercept the blow himself.

"OK, I take that back," Sylvia said, her eyes widening slightly under her helmet as she witnessed the Ranger-Boggart spin the Lunar Lance to throw off Ron's Guardian Blade before ramming the rod into his chest to throw him back. "This _is _bad..."

"_Rush him_!" Harry yelled as the Ranger-Boggart knocked Jason back with a powerful kick, the Red Guardian Ranger charging for their foe with the Blue and Green Rangers close behind him. Bringing the Lunar Lance between him and his foes, the Ranger-Boggart was able to use its length to neatly block all three Guardian Blades before they could make contact with its body, spinning the lance in a circle to send all three Hogwarts Guardians off-balance before sweeping the lance in a forward circular motion that knocked them all off their feet.

As his teammates fell, Ron leapt into action, launching a quick series of spells from his Blade, only for the Ranger-Boggart to neatly dodge his attempted attacks and draw a blue pistol that he swiftly attached the Lunar Lance to. As their foe fired a rapid series of blue energy bursts at Ron, the Yellow Guardian erected a hasty Shield Charm that the blasts flying back towards their source, only for the Ranger-Boggart to pull out the Dragon Dagger and blow a few quick notes on it before the blasts could strike home, the golden armour around his shoulders glowing as it deflected the blasts back at the Guardians.

"NO!" Sylvia yelled, drawing her own blade as she charged towards their foe. With the Ranger-Boggart still slightly off-balance from the last few blows, the Black Guardian was able to get in close enough to knock the amalgamated Ranger off his feet, but this only lasted for a moment before he separated the Lance from his pistol and used it to knock Sylvia down herself. Leaping back onto its feet, the Ranger-Boggart raised the Sword of Darkness as though about to bring it down onto her neck, but a yellow blur tackled the creature before it could lower the sword, and it swiftly found itself wrestling with the Yellow Guardian.

"Give it _up_, you freaky SOD!" Ron yelled, grabbing the Ranger-Boggart's fists as the other creature attempted to punch him, straining against his foe's strength as they rolled around on the ground, balance constantly shifting as each of them tried to overpower the other. "We _won't_ let your boss _WIN_!"

"NO!" the Ranger-Boggart yelled, suddenly sprouting large spider-like legs from its back, the legs grabbing Ron and throwing him into Hermione as she tried to move in to help. Even as the Blue and Yellow Rangers fell, the Green and Red were leaping into action, charging towards the creature that had just knocked out their siblings- both biological and unofficially adopted-, only for the entity to suddenly sprout a long cloak that it swept over their heads, temporarily blocking their vision before it leapt off its feet to kick them in the chests and knock them off-balance.

"_Get down_!" Jason suddenly yelled, throwing Saba at the Ranger-Boggart. As the other Rangers scrambled to their feet, they quickly noted that their current adversary was temporarily off its feet, its shape blurring as though it was trying to figure out what it should become next.

"Nice job," Harry said, wincing slightly as he got back to his feet to join the rest of the team.

"You're welcome," Jason said, flexing his wrist as he grabbed Saba as the sentient sword flew back towards him, looking grimly at the dazed boggart. "We need to think this through; that thing's down for the moment, but I don't think it's going to stay out for long."

"And the second we get up close to it, it'll transform into something-" Hermione began, before she snapped her fingers in inspiration. "Of course; that's _it_!"

"Huh?" Ron asked, looking uncertainly at the Blue Guardian Ranger. "What're you talking about?"

"We need to change our strategy!" Hermione said, grinning enthusiastically at her old friend. "We're trying to fight this thing like it's one of us; we need to fight it like a _boggart_!"

"And how are we meant to do that; I don't think _riddikilus _is going to exactly cut it against this thing-!" Ron began indignantly.

"It's drawing on our fears to _help _it in combat; we need to make it turn into something that we _can _fight so that we can weaken it!" Hermione clarified, sounding like she was smiling under her helmet as she turned back to look at the creature. "And I _think _I know what to use..."

"What?" Harry asked, looking in confusion at the Blue Ranger.

"Just try and keep calm and keep your minds blank- I don't think this thing finds it as easy to draw on our fears as a normal boggart; it looks like it has to _think _about what it turns into-, and let me try something..." Hermione said, drawing her Blade as she turned to look at the Ranger-Boggart as it advanced towards her. "Here I go..."

Not sure what else to do, Harry held out his arms to hold back the other Rangers as Hermione charged towards their foe, a wild scream that Harry had never heard his friend make before bursting from her lips as she cut and slashed away at the creature, the occasional defiant "_NO_!" that was at odds with her exceptional progress in combat the only sign that Hermione was thinking about anything other than a fight. For a few moments, the Ranger-Boggart simply parried Hermione's wild slashes without any sign that he was thinking of changing his strategy, but then it suddenly stood back and changed into a form that the three Hogwarts students quickly recognised.

_Professor McGonagall_? Harry thought to himself in confusion, a quick glance at Ron and Ginny all that he needed to confirm that they were just as puzzled by this as he was. _What_-?

"Miss Granger," the McGonagall-Boggart said with a stern voice, "your performance has been-"

Harry didn't need to hear any more of the boggart's latest 'speech'; its opening sentence was enough to remind him of their third-year Defence Against the Dark Arts encounter with a boggart, where Hermione had failed the last stage of their exam in that course due to her boggart manifesting as McGonagall informing her that she'd failed her exams.

It made _perfect_ sense; since Harry, Ginny, Jason and Sylvia's fears were all obviously capable of fighting back, and even Ron's fear of spiders could be dangerous if they were big enough, Hermione's fear of official failure- personified in McGonagall- was technically the least dangerous fear they possessed (His head of house might be strict and capable, but she didn't exactly compare to evil Rangers, Voldemort, or giant spiders).

"_Get it_!" he yelled, the rest of the team drawing their blades and charging at the creature before them, Before the boggart could transform into something more combat-capable- McGonagall's spell-casting abilities might not exactly be flawed, but compared to Voldemort, evil Rangers, or giant spiders, she was probably the least dangerous threat their fears could 'generate'. Before the boggart could react to the attack, the Rangers had struck the creature with multiple blows from their various swords, sending it reeling back with a scream of rage as its body began to shift again, Harry quickly noting that its current transformation speed was significantly slower than it had been earlier.

"We're weakening it!" Hermione said, sounding as though she was grinning under her helmet as she turned to look at Harry. "Harry, you're up; focus on a dementor!"

"Wh- oh, gotcha!" Harry said, stepping forward and focusing his thoughts on the terrifying feelings a dementor's presence could always evoke in him, the helplessness and strange apprehension he always felt when around them (He acknowledged it was weird, but it was still the most consistent experience he'd ever had of hearing his parents' voices)...

As the creature shifted and transformed once again, the four wizarding Guardians seized their chance.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" they yelled, drawing their blades and aiming them all at the same point; if asked later on, nobody would have been able to say why they had done this, but they felt at the time that it was the right thing to do. As their blasts struck each other, four massive golden shapes appeared from the resulting ball of energy, but Jason and Sylvia were only briefly able to glimpse something with antlers and another something with a longish-looking body and tail before the shapes merged to become a form that looked surprisingly like the original Hogwarts Guardian Megazord.

"Whoa..." Harry and Ron muttered, only able to watch in wide-eyed surprise as their combined Patronus charged towards the currently dementor-shaped boggart. The creature tried to turn to face the powerful golden figure, but before it could do anything, the gold Patronus drew its blade and tore through the dementor's black cloak. As the creature screamed in rage and pain, the Megazord Patronus turned around and rammed its sword through the monster's chest once again, the creature letting out a final scream before it fell over, collapsing into a burst of black energy before it vanished. The golden Megazord Patronus nodded briefly at the six Guardians as it turned back to face its creators and their allies before it faded back into nothingness, leaving the six Rangers to look at each other with a slight smile.

"Well," Ron said at last, shrugging awkwardly. "That was... interesting."

"That's the way it is when you're a Ranger," Jason said with an approving nod.

"But... how did we _do _that?" Ginny asked, looking between her Guardian Blade and the place where the Megazord Patronus had been in confusion. "I mean, the last time we did this kind of thing, we just got a phoenix..."

"Yeah, but the last time you did this kind of thing, you didn't have her there," Jason said, indicating Sylvia. "Besides, this thing wasn't a real Dementor even if it looked like one, so maybe your gems decided that they needed a more physical approach to deal with it than the phoenix last time; from what you told me dementors are mainly vulnerable to those Patronus things for... emotional reasons, right?"

Despite the fact that the theory came from someone who hadn't even known that their branch of magic existed before he met them, Hermione couldn't help but feel impressed.

"Sound reasoning there, Jason," she said, nodding in approval at him.

"Hey, you don't spend several years hanging out with a brain like Billy without picking up _some _idea of what he's talking about all the time," Jason replied, before he glanced around at the street that was now beginning to fill with people once again. "Anyway, that said, we should probably get going before we start getting too many questions; we've still got that next horcrux to track down, after all."

"Plus," Sylvia added, looking over at her new teammates with a slightly hopeful manner to her stance as though she wasn't sure how people were going to respond to what she was about to say, "I get the feeling I'm going to need a _bit _more information on you guys and your pasts if I'm sticking around..."

"Trust me," Ron said, reaching over to place a reassuring hand on the Black Guardian Ranger's shoulder. "As far as we're concerned, you're here to the end if you want to be."

As the other Rangers nodded in agreement at the Yellow Guardian Ranger's words, Sylvia smiled back at them under her helmet, grateful that they couldn't see her face at the moment.

She knew that crying at a time like this was stupid, but, as she and her new friends apparated away from the site of their latest battle, she couldn't help it; after so long thinking that this could never happen, she'd finally become something she'd wanted since childhood.

She was a _Power Ranger_...

* * *

AN: Well, it's into Reefside in the next chapter, and the two teams involved are going to get a _very _dramatic introduction to each other...


	29. Skrewts and Dinosaurs

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"So, this is Reefside, huh?" Harry said, looking out the window at the seaside town around them. "Lot smaller than Silver Hills, isn't it?"

"It's not like there's a rule anywhere that Rangers _have _to be in big cities, Harry," Jason commented as he turned around another corner- the current car was a bit tight with Sylvia coming along as well, but Hermione and Ron had assured them that she could do a couple of spells to modify the interior to give them a bit more space without making the car any bigger on the outside- and drove down the street. "Angel Grove had a decent amount of large buildings in it- even if insurance companies had to rewrite their books so that people could get compensation for their offices being destroyed in our zord battles-, and Mariner Bay wasn't exactly small either, but Turtle Cove and Blue Bay Harbour were pretty similar to this, when you get down to it; interesting essentials, but nothing _really _interesting to make you want to stick around."

"Then... why here?" Ginny asked after a moment's contemplation.

"Huh?" Jason said, looking briefly over his shoulder at where the Green Guardian Ranger sat just behind him. "Why what?"

"Why would the Ranger's villains decide to start their attacks in those locations?" Ginny clarified. "I mean, you're out to destroy or conquer the world, and you start with some small place that nobody ever really paid attention to before the Rangers showed up? It just seems... _stupid _to me."

"Well, in the case of the first few villains the Rangers ever faced, Zordon was the most likely source of resistance to their presence that they'd have to deal with, so eliminating him would have only made sense," Jason began, his mind drifting briefly over everything he'd heard from his successors during a few of the 'Ranger Reunions' they'd had over the years- teams tried to keep in touch with each other when they could in case a situation ever arose that required them to get back in the game- before he continued his story. "As for the later ones, the Lightspeed Rescue and Wild Force Rangers were created to stop a demon army that had been fought in their area centuries ago, the rest of Wes and Eric's team pretty much just arrived in Silver Hills by chance when they came back from the future- although the bad guys stayed there because the organisation that would become Time Force would start in that city and they wanted to pre-emptively defeat Time Force before it started-, Trakeena wanted the Quasar Sabers that gave the Terra Venture team their powers for herself so was focused on them no matter where they went, and Lothor was pretty much like Zedd and Rita in that he was trying to take out the people most likely to threaten his plans before he spread out."

"Ah," Ginny said, nodding slightly in understanding. "Well... that makes sense."

"What about the team that set up shop here?" Ron asked. "What made the bad guy attack _here _of all place?"

"Well, that's a long story-" Jason began, before something that put him briefly in mind of Commander Crawfish leapt in front of the car, prompting him to make a rapid spin to stop himself crashing into the thing, the car spinning around in the fortunately-empty road so that it was facing the creature once again before it came to a halt.

Looking back at the creature, he quickly concluded that the original resemblance to Captain Crawfish wasn't accurate; judging by the long sharp tail with a glowing tip and its wider claws, this thing was more likely 'related' to a scorpion than a lobster, although something about it didn't seem quite like either of those creatures anyway...

"What the _Hell_-?" Sylvia began.

"_Blast-Ended Skrewt_!" the four Hogwarts students simultaneously yelled in horror.

"A _what_?" Jason said, shifting the handbrake into position to stop the car rolling anywhere as he turned to look at his teammates in confusion.

"It's... something that a friend of ours bred; it normally looks like a very large scorpion that can 'shoot' people from its back stinger..." Hermione began, before shaking her head as she looked at the creature. "But Hagrid said there was only _one _of them left-!"

"You really think Hagrid wouldn't have bred a few more of those things?" Ron asked, looking over at Hermione in exasperation. "He's a nice guy, but he _can't _resist dangerous creatures-!"

"Enough talking; Black Guardian Power, _now_!" Sylvia cried, leaping out of the car and thrusting her arms out in front of her as she faced their enemy, her right hand hitting the black gem as it glowed on her left wrist before she was once again clad in the costume of the Black Guardian Ranger.

"She makes a good point," Ginny said, nodding briefly as Sylvia leapt into battle against the new monster, which quickly moved its claws to counter her first attempts at an attack. "We can worry about the how later; right now, survival's more important."

"Right then," Harry said, as the other Guardian Rangers followed Sylvia's cue and got out of the car, taking a few seconds to confirm that nobody was watching them before they pulled out their wands. "Hogwarts Guardians, _attivare_!"

"White Dragon Guardian Power, _now_!"

Now dressed for action, the Rangers leapt into battle, quickly ducking and weaving around the new monster's attempts to attack them with its claws and tail as their blades hacked away at its shell.

Harry quickly determined that, unlike the soft underbelly of the original skrewts, this creature's chest was as hard and resistant to attack as the rest of it, but the creature's loose joints still allowed the Rangers the chance to score an occasionally damaging wound against their foe; the tricky part lay in timing that blow to hit the target before the creature realised what you were doing. Ginny learned this to her cost when she tried to attack the creature and found her head being caught in one of the creature's large claws, the thing feeling like it was about to sever her neck before Jason managed to hit the claw with Saba and make it release its grip on her.

"WHOA!" Ron yelled, as he found himself ducking around the creature's attempt to shoot what he could best describe as fireballs at him. "What _is _it with this thing?"

"Considering that it probably tried to eat its brood-mates if it's anything like the first batch Hagrid bred, I don't think it's doing anything other than what comes naturally!" Hermione said, currently trying to get up close to the creature to stab it even as it poked and slashed at her with some of the legs around its waist that it wasn't using for walking right now.

"Any recommendations for dealing with this thing?" Jason asked, as he and Sylvia narrowly avoided another burst of fireballs.

"Apart from going for the joints, not really; this thing's a lot more heavily-armoured than the usual version!" Ginny called over to the White Guardian Ranger even as she summoned a quick Shield Charm as a test; the impact as a fireball struck the resulting barrier managed to partly singe her costume, but the worst of the flames were still harmlessly dispersed before they could reach her.

"And more manoeuvrable!" Harry noted, as the Skrewt used some of its currently-inactive legs to neatly block his latest attempt to stab it with his Guardian Blade and knock him backwards, one clawed arm striking his helmet with such force that he actually felt his visor crack.

_Power and some degree of strategy, combined with an ego that means it isn't talking; _not _a good combination_... Jason mused, as he narrowly ducked under another blow from the creature's claws; at least if something talked back at you, you could try and provoke it into making a mistake. He tried to hack at a couple of the joints with Saba, but even the White Ranger's powerful sword couldn't do much against this thing's armour, and further spells failed to make much of an impact. He thought he saw a couple of cracks form where the spells struck, but against the pattern of the Skrewt's shell-like exterior he wouldn't like to sweat to it, and he didn't both telling them to try again; his new team was doubtless already trying their best spells against something this dangerous.

"We need a new strategy!" Ron yelled, his latest attempt to fire a spell at the creature being neatly deflected by its armoured shell. "We just aren't _hitting _it hard enough!"

"Well, if you've got any ideas for what we could try _aside _from the obvious, be my guest!" Sylvia asked, glaring in frustration at Ron when her favourite few kicks failed to accomplish anything other than annoy the latest monster. "There's only so many times that you can try and hit something-!"

Whatever she had been about to say was cut short when a loud screech suddenly filled the air around them, the sheer intensity of it forcing the monster to its knees. The Guardian Rangers briefly winced at the sound, but their helmets blocked the worst of the screech, allowing them to stay standing as a red-and-blue blur suddenly charged forward, the red part of the blur breaking away to race around the creature, apparently delivering a quick series of punches to its body, as the blue- revealed to be a dark-skinned boy in a blue shirt and jeans- landed a series of powerful punches on the Skrewt's shell that actually made it crack.

"Whoa..." Sylvia said, smiling in approval at the sight, even if her tone suggested that she was just as confused as the rest of them.

"Hey!" a voice said as the screech stopped, prompting the group to look over at the source, their eyes quickly falling on a girl with dark-streaked blonde hair dressed in a yellow top and a denim skirt standing at a corner, a slightly Asian-looking boy about her age dressed in predominately white clothes and an older man in black on either side of her. "We softened it up; are you going to finish it or not?"

"Hold on; that screech was _you_?" Hermione asked, looking at the girl and her friends with obvious surprise. "But how-?"

"Explanations later; I say we defeat the monster first," Ron said, urgently indicating the Skrewt-thing, its shell now badly cracked by the figure in blue before the previously-sighted red blur apparently grabbed him and ran off again.

"Right then," Harry said, raising his blade to point it at the creature, his wizarding teammates joining him. "On three, we blow this thing; one, two, three, _REDUCTO_!"

The combined power of four blasting curses striking the creature in front of them swiftly proved to be more than sufficient for the task at hand; in a matter of seconds, the cracks in the Skrewt's shell had spread, and the creature's vulnerable, fleshy interior was exposed, allowing the Rangers to blast it into pieces before it could stop them.

"Was that maybe... a bit _too _much?" Ginny asked at last, glancing over at her friends.

"Given that there's probably a few more of those things hanging around if Voldemort was able to take one, I'd guess not; it didn't seem like the kind of thing that could be 'tamed' anyway," Harry said, shrugging slightly before he turned back to look at the new arrivals, noting that the previously-seen red blur was actually a young man, about the other of the girl and the men in blue and white, wearing jeans and a red-and-white checked shirt. "By the way, thanks for the help."

"No problem," the man in red replied with a brief nod. "Saw the fight and figured we'd do what we could to help."

"On the topic of help, you're the new guys, huh?" the older man in black the Guardians had noticed earlier said, studying the group before him with a smile. "I'd say it's nice to meet you, but why do I get the feeling that the thing we were just fighting isn't the reason you came here?"

"You've got that right, bro," Jason said, nodding at the man in question with a smile, causing the man in question to blink in surprise.

"Hold on a minute..." he said, looking suspiciously at the Hogwarts Guardians' White Ranger, a slightly uncertain smile on his face as though he'd had an idea but didn't want to voice it in case he was wrong. "You sound like..."

In response, Jason reached up to his wrist and touched his gem, deactivating his costume and leaving him standing nonchalantly in the street, smiling at the other man.

"_Jason_?" the other man said, prompting the other four members of his group to look at him in surprise.

"That's me; back in the game once again," Jason replied, nodding back at the other man before he turned to look at the rest of the team. "It's OK, guys; these are the local Ranger team I told you about. Trust me; you can trust them."

After a moment's hesitation, Harry and the others followed Jason's advice and powered down themselves, leaving them looking slightly awkwardly at the other group, their clothing slightly shabbier after their weeks on the road in comparison to the others.

"Uh... hi?" the Red Guardian Ranger said at last, waving awkwardly at the others. "I'm Harry, and this is Ron, Hermione and Ginny; we're all old friends from school- which ties into where we got our powers, but that's a longer story-, and Sylvia's... well, she's a new addition."

"I was friends with the Space Rangers and picked up this gem when the original Black Guardian was rendered unable to use it due to him being a psychotic asshole," Sylvia clarified, shrugging slightly as she looked at the other group with a slight smile. "I take it you guys were our predecessors?"

"Well, we were the last team active, if that's what you mean," the boy in red said, walking over to shake Harry's hand with a smile. "I'm Conner, former Red Dino Thunder Ranger; colours for the rest are pretty easy to establish."

"Kira," the other team's only girl added, joining her teammate as she walked over to shake Ginny's hand. "Good to see they included a bit more diversity in your team; being the only girl among these guys could _really _suck at times..."

"Hey, we coped," the boy in blue said with a slight shrug as he exchanged greetings with Ron. "I'm Ethan, and that's Trent; I take it your White Ranger already told you about Doctor O.?"

"Doctor who?" Hermione asked.

"Déjà vu much?" the man in black asked, smiling over at Jason as though at some private joke.

"Hey, I was just surprised that you even managed to get through grad school, the way your memory was back then; I think I was entitled to a _couple _of jokes about you getting a doctrate," Jason said, smiling teasingly at the other man before he looked back at his new team. "Anyway, guys, this is Tommy Oliver; pretty sure I've mentioned him to you before?"

Ron blinked.

"Tommy... as in, your team's Green Ranger?" he said, looking at the other man in wide-eyed surprise. "As in, the man who went on to become the longest-running Ranger _ever_?"

"I _did _change my colours a few times over the years; it's not like I stayed in the same costume and powers for my whole run," Tommy said, shrugging slightly at Ron's query before he looked back at Jason. "Anyway, what happened to you? Last I heard you were running a dojo back home?"

"I was; Rocky's got the classes while I'm away, but... well, these guys needed my help, they had a spare power source, and here I am," Jason explained, indicating the White Guardian Gem before he glanced around himself. "Look, hate to cut and run, but is there somewhere more private where we could talk about this; these guys have kind of a long story behind them that you're probably going to want to hear in detail."

"Sure thing," Tommy said, nodding in understanding. "We were taking a few days off to catch up anyway; this just gives us something to do in the process."

"Our turn to be the ones helping out in the big team-up, Doctor O?" Conner said, smiling over at the man who the Guardians presumed was his team's Black Ranger (Hermione made a mental note to ask about that; she'd assumed that she and the others had just started wearing this clothing because they felt like it, but if _everyone _was wearing their colours maybe there was something more to it...).

"Seems like it," Tommy said, smiling briefly at his team before he looked back at the others. "Come on; I've got a place we can go to while we talk about your team in private."


	30. History of the Dinosaurs

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: I apologise in advance for the 'filler' nature of this story; if all goes well, the next chapter should be more interesting...

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"You keep your command centre in your basement?" Ginny said, looking over at Tommy in surprise as the Dino Thunder Rangers lead the Hogwarts Guardians into the area that they had introduced as their command centre. Most of the equipment seemed to be damaged, and there were more than a few scorch marks around the walls, but it was still in comparatively good shape, with what looked like a medical examination table in one corner of the room behind a set of curtains and a large control console of some sort with an equally large screen above it dominating the end of the room opposite the entrance.

"Well, we had to do a bit of rebuilding after our last battle- we might have defeated most of our enemies, but we wanted something that could help us keep an eye on anything that might crop up afterwards-, but we were able to basically set it back up like it was before, yeah," Tommy said, nodding at the new Green Ranger before he looked back at Jason. "So, care to tell me how you got involved with these guys?"

"Actually, it kinda goes all the way back to us," Jason said, a slightly grim smile on his face as he looked over at Tommy. "Zordon made their powers, bro."

Tommy actually seemed to stagger for a moment as he turned to look at Jason at his friend's last statement, leaning against a nearby wall for support as he took in what he'd just heard.

"Zordon?" he repeated, his gaze moving from Jason to Harry. "_He _created your powers?"

"With the aid of... someone from our history, yeah," Harry replied, indicating his Guardian Gem as he spoke. "From what we were told, Zordon encountered one of the founders of our school long ago, and the two collaborated in the creation of these gems in case our world ever faced a threat that used the power and weapons of Zordon's usual enemies rather than the kind of threats we'd normally face."

"Hold on; the guy who made Doctor O. and his friends Rangers created your powers with the help of someone from your school?" Conner asked, looking curiously at Harry. "Why do I get the feeling that there's something different about your school compared to our one?"

"You'd win that bet all right," Ron said, smiling slightly at Conner as he indicated himself, his sister, and his friends. "In a nutshell, we're wizards."

"You're what?" Ethan asked.

"Wizards," Hermione repeated, before she paused and shook her head. "Well, Ginny and I are witches, and Jason and Sylvia are muggles-"

"Muggles?" Trent asked.

"Our word for people without magic, although that can vary; some families can just have a member being suddenly born with magic when they've never shown any sign of it beforehand," Ginny clarified, indicating Hermione with a slight smile. "Actually, Hermione's one of them; first witch in her family, and she's mastered most spells with greater ease than most children who were _raised _around magic."

"Right..." Kira said, nodding slightly uncertainly as she took in what the other girl had said. "And... you're from Earth?"

"Oh yeah; we've got a whole society living in secret all over the world," Ron said, smiling in confirmation at the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger. "From what Dumbledore told us- he was the headmaster of our school, Hogwarts-, one of Hogwarts' founders found out that this 'Zordon' guy who created the original team was on Earth, and the two of them created our gems-" Ron briefly paused to indicate the gem he wore on his wrist before he continued, "-so that our world would be ready in case something came up that posed the kind of threat Harry described earlier; that kind of threat came into action a few months ago, and here we are.

"Ah," Conner said, nodding briefly in understanding before he looked curiously at the rest of the group. "So... why are you here? I mean, from what Doctor O.'s told us about past Ranger teams, you're normally meant to stay in one place..."

"Yeah, but given the way their bad guy operates, they needed to stay on the move in order to get the situation back home to a point where they can even hope to stop him in the first place," Jason explained, looking slightly grimly over at Tommy. "It's a bit of a long story, but in a nutshell, we're looking for fragments of our enemy's soul."

"You're looking for what?" Ethan asked, his eyes widening in shock.

"Basically, our enemy used a spell to break his soul into pieces and seal those fragments into various artefacts that he'd chosen based on their historical significance," Hermione explained. "So long as those artefacts remain intact, he's virtually unkillable because his soul _can't _pass on even if his body's destroyed, but if we can find them and destroy them- although we need a pretty powerful weapon in order to accomplish that; they're pretty durable-, that will get him to a point where we can defeat him in a direct confrontation without worrying about him coming back again later-"

"Hold on; coming back _again_?" Kira asked, holding up a hand as she looked urgently at the Blue Guardian Ranger. "Does that mean that this guy's... _died _before?"

"That's how I got this, actually," Harry said, indicating the scar on his forehead with a slight shrug. "He tried to kill me with a Killing Curse when I was younger- after he'd already killed my parents-, but some ancient magic that my mother had... 'triggered' is probably the best term... before her death resulted in the curse rebounding off me and virtually destroying his body, but his horcruxes tethered him to this plane of existence long enough for him to work out a means of recreating his body."

"I'm not sure if I should go 'ouch' or just reflect that it probably served the guy right," Conner said, looking sympathetically at Harry. "I mean, getting your body vaporised like that doesn't sound like a pleasant thing to happen to anyone, but if he tried to kill you when you were younger... well, he probably deserved it."

"Trust me, you don't want to know what _else _this guy's capable of," Ron muttered grimly as he looked over at the Red Ranger. "Trying to kill Harry as a kid wasn't even the top of his list of crimes _before _he was resurrected; he's been staying relatively low-key since he got back, but we all know that's not going to last forever..."

"So... what makes him a Ranger-level threat?" Tommy asked, looking curiously at Jason. "I mean, he sounds dangerous, don't get me wrong, but we've encountered a few wizards over the years who could probably have been defeated just by normal people under the right circumstances-"

"He's not only got a large group of followers, but he's also acquired Rita's old wand and he's been using it to create monsters of his own," Jason clarified.

Tommy's eyes widened in shock.

"He _what_?" he said, sitting up sharply as he looked at the man who'd been his original team leader when he'd first become part of the Power Ranger legacy. "How the _Hell_-?"

"We don't know where Voldemort got it from or how he learned how to use it; all that matters is that he did, and he's been using it to create various monsters based on enhanced versions of some of the more dangerous magical creatures in our world," Harry said, turning to indicate Sylvia as he spoke. "He even managed to duplicate our power sources to turn my old school rival into the original Black Hogwarts Guardian Ranger- although he'd have probably given the guy a different title since he was definitely _not _interested in defending Hogwarts from anything-, but we were able to convert the gem's natural energy to reject him, and it ended up bonding with Sylvia here."

"What can I say?" Sylvia said with a slight smile as the other four teens turned to look at her. "I always wanted to be a Ranger since I spent time with the Space team, and when this gem landed in front of me and gave me the chance..."

She shrugged. "You can't say no to that kind of luck, can you?"

"Tried to do it myself once after we got our powers, but that idea didn't exactly last long, I can tell you that for nothing," Conner said, smiling briefly at the Black Guardian Ranger before he turned to look at Hermione again. "So, you came here because you think that your bad guy's hidden one of those... horcrux things here?"

"We think that he relocated them after acquiring Rita's wand as a way of paying 'homage' to his new abilities by hiding them in Ranger-related areas where the teams fought villains that he could personally identify with," Hermione explained, shrugging slightly as she noticed the Dino Thunder Rangers' sceptical expressions. "It's a bit of a stab in the dark, I know, but it's the best that I can think of at the moment; we've encountered one already, and our gems allowed us to track the second one to here."

"On that topic," Ginny said, shrugging and clapping her hands together as she looked between the Dino Thunder Rangers with a slight smile, "we've been talking since we got here, but we should have made this our first priority; what kind of events lead to you lot becoming Power Rangers?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind knowing a little more about that myself," Ron said, looking curiously at the group. "I mean, all that stuff you were doing in the fight with the Skrewt; does that have anything to do with whatever gave _you _guys the power to become Rangers?"

"Yeah, we called those our 'dino-powers'," Conner explained. "Our own power sources were gems that were part of the meteor that hit Earth and made the dinosaurs extinct, and each of us gained some kind of additional power from our dino gems that we could use to fight our enemy's foot soldiers if they attacked and we didn't have time to morph. I got superspeed, Kira can unleash a sonic scream, Ethan gets apparently unbreakable skin- well, we haven't _found _anything that can break it yet, anyway- and superhuman strength, Doctor O. can turn invisible, and Trent could camouflage himself."

"Isn't that just the same thing as turning invisible?" Sylvia asked, looking curiously over at the White Dino Thunder Ranger.

"Not entirely; I take it that Trent's power means that he's only unnoticeable when he's up against something else?" Hermione asked, looking between Tommy, Ethan and Trent for clarification.

"Pretty much, yeah," Trent confirmed with a nod. "Like you said, it's not much use in a fight, but it has its perks."

"Ah," Harry said, smiling slightly in understanding before a thought occurred to him. "Uh... no offence, but if what you can do when you're morphed is anything like what Wes and Eric could do-"

"You've met Wes and Eric?" Tommy said, looking over at Jason in surprise.

"The last horcrux we found was in Silver Hills; I figured that asking them for help made sense, just like asking you guys for help with things here did," Jason explained, before he returned his attention to Tommy with a slightly sad smile. "I think that I can guess the answer to Harry's question, however; you burnt out your powers stopping that 'Mesogog' guy I heard about, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Tommy confirmed, nodding grimly at his friend before he turned to look at the other Guardian Rangers, evidently recognising their need for a more detailed explanation. "Mesogog- our main villain; he was essentially a man/dinosaur hybrid created due to a flawed genetics experiment who wanted to set Earth back to the prehistoric era- had managed to absorb some of the power from our Dino Gems shortly before our last battle with him, and he was rapidly moving past the point where our usual attacks had any effect on him. The only thing left for us to do was try to hit him with everything we had at once, channelling all the raw power in our gems into one massive blast of morphing energy."

"We destroyed him in that last attack, but the gems were pretty much burnt out in the process," Conner said, shrugging slightly as he looked at the other team. "With our powers pretty much drained- we just kept our dino-powers as they were something specific to_ us _rather than the gems-, and our zords having been sacrificed earlier on to stop one of our other enemies, and... well, we've kept the gems stored for sentimental value, but it'll take a while before they're in any kind of shape to be useful to us."

"Can I see them?" Hermione asked, looking at the older Red Ranger curiously.

"Huh?" Conner asked.

"Your gems," Hermione clarified, shrugging slightly as she smiled awkwardly at him. "I might not be able to do anything, but if I could just take a look... well, maybe I could think of something you haven't been able to so far."

"You think you could fix the gems with magic?" Ethan asked, smiling at the thought as he looked at his Hogwarts Guardian colour counterpart.

"I can try, anyway; there's no reason why I _shouldn't _be able to do something, depending on what shape they're in," Hermione said, shrugging as she looked around at the others.

"Trust us; if Hermione can't work out a way to do it with magic, you can't do it," Ron said, giving his teammate a broad grin.

"She's your new Billy, huh?" Tommy said, looking over at Jason with a smile.

"Who?" Hermione asked, looking curiously at the Black Dino Thunder Ranger.

"Billy Cranston; Earth's first Blue Ranger," Jason explained. "He not only handled the technical side of things for us- helped Zordon and Alpha build new weapons for us when the monster of the week demanded something beyond our usual arsenal-, but he was so good at his job that he was once called on to help an alien planet develop a weapon against another race who were trying to invade their world, and ended up actually living there after he stopped being a Ranger."

"He moved to another _planet_?" Ron said, his eyes wide as he took in what he'd just heard. "As in, he's not even _on _Earth any more?"

"Billy always wanted to go somewhere that no human had ever been before; what can I say?" Jason replied with a slight smile before he turned his attention back to Tommy as he indicated Hermione. "The point is, Hermione here's at least as smart as Billy was, even if she's been developed her knowledge and experience into studying a different field than he did; it can't hurt to give her a chance to check out the gems at least."

"As you said, it's worth a shot," Tommy said after a brief pause, before he walked over to a drawer attached to the main control console and took out a small box, which he opened to reveal five differently-coloured gems, similar to the Guardian Gems, lying on black velvet. Hermione took the box and began to study the objects in her hands, smiling slightly as she drew her wand and began to study the gems before her.

"Just give me some time, and I'll see if I can come up with anything," she said, nodding thoughtfully as she picked up the red gem and began to study it. "In the meantime, maybe you could... I don't know..."

"Give the genius time to work, huh?" Jason said, shrugging slightly as he stood up and glanced over at Tommy. "Anywhere you'd recommend?"

"Well, we know the owner of a local Internet cafe; how's that?" Tommy asked with a slight smile.

"Should be fine," Jason said, glancing over at the rest of his team as they stood up. "Come on, then; no point rushing that search when we've got some local knowledge, huh?"

As much as Harry agreed with Jason's comment- after the fight with the Skrewt, they _could _use a bit of time to unwind and learn more about the new potential friends they had in the Dino Thunder team-, that didn't stop him feeling a little anxious with Voldemort down by two horcruxes already, he had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy to find the next few...

Still, in the end, it amounted to the same thing; if the next part wasn't going to be easy, he'd do well to catch a break so that he was refreshed and prepared for whatever might be coming up next.


	31. Grim Reflections

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: A brief look at what Voldemort's been up to recently, with some inspiration taken from "Deathly Hallows"; a review I received recently prompted me to realise that I'd been neglecting him lately, and I wanted to set the stage for a couple of horcrux acquisitions that Voldemort left in their original hiding-places (On that topic, I've changed my original plan about the Guardian Rangers' confrontation with Snape, although I'm going to wait to make a decision about what will happen instead for when the time comes to make a choice one way or the other)

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he sat contemplatively in his headquarters, Voldemort stared grimly at the ball that he used to monitor his followers, and cursed the way that recent developments had unfolded.

His actions in Britain were at least progressing relatively smoothly; his Death Eaters' prior contacts in the Ministry of Magic had already helped him establish a fairly secure foothold in the Ministry with Dumbledore out of the way and the Order of the Phoenix scattered after Harry Potter's disappearance. There might be some minor resistance in a few area, but in general his decision to stay behind the scenes appeared to be paying off in this instance; by claiming that the recent upheaval of the Ministry's social structure was due to the discovery of the 'muggle-born conspiracy' regarding the theft of magic, he was able to establish his own followers in certain key positions without actually making it obvious that _he _was in charge.

While his goal to preserve the purity of magic was laudable, Voldemort wasn't going to delude himself into thinking that he'd be accepted by everybody if he made his role in recent events public, and he had more strength operating behind the scenes of those in power anyway. So long as he established his authority, it didn't matter how many people knew he was in charge; _he _knew that he had achieved his goal, and that was all that mattered.

His only regret was that he had yet to track down Harry Potter; ever since he had dispatched his Tengas to try and attack the house where Harry apparently stayed during the summer months, there had been no sign of him since the subsequent fight with the Hogwarts Guardians. While the presence of the Blue and Yellow 'Hogwarts Guardians' at the scene suggested that they had taken Harry into 'protective custody' of some sort, so far his attempts to track them based on their gems had turned up no indication of Potter fighting alongside the Guardians, which suggested that he had been hidden somewhere 'safe' for the moment while they continued to search for his horcruxes. The monsters he had sent out to destroy the Guardians had done a fair job at combat, but so far his inexperience with this type of magic was showing through; not only did the Rangers continue to defeat whatever he had to throw at them, but they had actually somehow found someone capable of using what should have been _his _'Guardian Gem'- he regretted never coming up with a suitable name for it, but he'd expected Lucius's heir to last long enough for him to think of a suitable name for it- on _their _side.

Most frustrating of all, the Malfoy heir had vanished after his last confrontation with the Hogwarts Guardians and that 'Time Force' group, and so far not even his father had seen him since; there had been rumours that the Yellow Guardian Ranger had been seen leaving something in Azkaban prison, but even without the Dementors present that facility still had a number of defensive wards around it that made returning to it somewhat difficult. Even ordering an investigation would be a difficult matter; most of his best followers from that prison were already free, and the remaining prisoners consisted of either random murderers or those followers too damaged by constant exposure to dementors to be of any value to him right now; with his followers' current status in the Ministry still finding its way, he would be wise not to push his resources too far and give anyone who didn't already have one a reason to suspect what had really happened.

Add in the frustrating anomaly of the White Guardian Ranger- something about Goldar's attitude suggested that he might know who was under that white helmet, but Voldemort got the impression that the gold-armoured warrior wouldn't respond well to attempts to make him reveal that information, and the combat expertise he provided was too important for him to question that right now-, and this wand was rapidly proving to be more of a challenge than he had expected it would be when he first acquired it. His source had informed him that it would grant him great power, and the sacrifice of some of his duelling capability due to its cumbersome size had seemed a fair trade-off for the other abilities this wand gave him, but the sheer amount of concentration required to use it to achieve his goals without causing unwanted side-effects was surprisingly difficult, and then there was the fact that everything he'd learned since they first appeared suggested that the Hogwarts Guardians were only active because his control of this wand had 'upped the stakes'...

Still, if recent events had taught him anything, it was that the Guardians worked best when they were up against the traditional monster; Goldar- a questionable ally at best, even if his knowledge of the wand's previous wielder had helped him unlock some of the secrets that his new associate would not or could not tell him about himself- and Draco had already proven that the Rangers faced greater challenges when faced with an opponent that could think for itself rather than something that just attacked.

Mindless animals focused on their goal were definitely reliable combatants against most enemies- their sheer power and ferocity would make it hard for anyone aside from the Hogwarts Guardians to fight them-, but he had to face the facts; so far, the Guardians were to adaptable for conventional monsters to defeat them.

What was required here was an _un_conventional opponent who thought in a manner that was very hard for even _him _to predict even after he'd seen them in action so many times, granted with some _very _interesting new powers on top of the traditional arsenal that his followers possessed.

If he was going to safeguard his remaining American horcruxes- transferring some of them to America for additional security from the Order might have made sense at the time, but was starting to regret it; how _did_ the Hogwarts Guardians know so much about Ranger history and his own past to know which towns he would have hidden the horcruxes in?-, he would need to start taking more risks and create a few more elaborate adversaries than what he had unleashed so far.

It was time to see just what his original, _loyal _followers could do when he combined natural magical power, Goldar's combat lessons, and the power he could bestow on others with his wand all into one form.

A slight sacrifice of purity was a small price to pay to gain a powerful champion like the one he would be sure to gain as a result of his current experiments, particularly if he could convince Goldar to part with that armour he kept in storage...

* * *

"Nice place," Ginny said, smiling in approval as they walked into the Cyberspace cafe that the Dino Thunder Rangers had apparently used as a more leisurely meeting place during their active Ranger career; the interior was fairly quiet at the moment, given that it was around noon during the school period, but there were still a couple of waiters in the area as well. "Comfy, I'll give it that."

"We like it, yeah; still try and drop in when we can," Ethan said, smiling at the new guys' approval of their environment as he indicated their usual couch area in the corner of the cafe. "Come on; it's fairly quiet now, so there shouldn't be any problem talking things over."

"Talking what things over?" an attractive woman with dark reddish-brown hair said suddenly, walking out from behind the counter to look at the new arrivals with a slightly critical smile as she looked between the two groups.

"Stuff relating to... the gem-related game," Ethan said, nodding briefly at the woman before he turned to the Guardian Rangers. "Guys, this is Hayley; she owns this place and she helped us with some of the... technical issues we faced back in the day. Hayley, this is Jason; he's an old... friend of Doctor O.'s."

"Old enough to know...?" Hayley began, raising an eyebrow as she shook the current White Ranger's hand.

"About Tommy's changing choice of colours?" Jason finished for her, smiling and nodding in confirmation. "Yeah, I know; I was actually in the game _before _he was, although I don't begrudge him his greater success at it since then."

"I see," Hayley said, smiling briefly at him before she turned to look at the other Guardian Rangers, smiling slightly as she took in Harry and Ron's red and yellow shirts, Ginny's green blouse and Sylvia's black jacket. "And these would be your team, huh?"

"Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, and Sylvia Larson; Hermione Granger's working with Tommy on something," Jason clarified, indicating the four Rangers present with a smile. "They've got an interesting history even before they were chosen, and they're definitely not like the usual Ranger teams, but we do what we can; we're currently tracking various artefacts that our enemy hid pieces of his soul in while he was trying to make himself immortal."

"His _soul_?" Hayley repeated, her eyes widening incredulously for a moment before she shook her head and indicated the desk behind her. "Sorry, but I've got to get back there; sounds fascinating, but this place won't run itself..."

"We'll fill you in later," Kira said, nodding reassuringly at the older woman before she joined the others sitting around the table.

"So... was you running into us like that deliberate or a coincidence?" Trent asked, looking curiously over at Sylvia.

"A bit of both, really," the Black Guardian Ranger replied. "We knew that the next horcrux was here, and Jason _was _planning to get in touch with your team for your help, but we had hoped we'd be able to do it on our own time; things have just been... well, they've been busy lately."

"Tell me about it; we get our powers, fight off some monsters, find one horcrux, fight off another bunch of monsters, track the next horcrux here..." Ron said, shaking his head as he looked over at the rest of his team with a slightly exhausted sigh. "I mean, I'm not objecting to the exercise, but it's all just been a bit rushed; we've been so focused on reacting to what he's sending against us that we haven't really had the time to find out more about where Voldemort got that sodding wand or anything like that..."

"Hey, that's the price of being a Ranger; our first week on the job, we had to learn about our powers, gain control of our zords, learn how to use these Raptor Raider things, _and _break into our bad guy's base," Conner said, shrugging slightly as he smiled over at the Yellow Guardian Ranger. "You're just lucky you came when you did if you were looking for our help with something; the fact that we were all in town this week is just a freaky coincidence."

"It is?" Ron asked curiously.

"Yeah, we'd just reached our mid-term break at our new colleges at about the same time- well, Ethan, Trent and I did; Kira's auditioning in New York at the moment rather than going to college-, and thought that now was as good a time as ever to catch up," Conner explained, shrugging slightly as he indicated his teammates.

"Auditioning?" Ginny said, looking over at Kira with a slight smile. "You act?"

"Sing, actually," Kira clarified. "Still working on getting beyond advertisement jingles professionally, but I made a pretty good impact on local crowds while I was here."

"Hey, nothing wrong with making your own impact on people," Harry said with a casual smile over at the other Yellow Ranger.

"She certainly did that when we became a team back in the day," Ethan said, smiling over at the newest Rangers. "I mean, fighting alongside each other against a deranged man/dinosaur hybrid might not be the most conventional way to get close to people, but it's got its merits."

"You mean you weren't close _before _you became a team?" Jason said, looking curiously at the four Dino Thunder Rangers, noting the subtext behind Ethan's choice of words.

"Not really," Kira said, shrugging slightly as she looked at her mentor's old teammate. "The first time Conner, Ethan and I were in one place without any other students was when we all got assigned detention with Doctor O. on the same day; we stumbled across the lab where he kept the original three Dino Gems- the Black and White gems were discovered later- and ended up bonding with them before we realised what we were dealing with."

"Ah," Ginny said, nodding briefly as she glanced at the Gem on her wrist. "Must have been a shock; we were at least _asked _if we wanted to make a choice about whether or not we'd be Rangers..."

"Not that it was much of one, anyway," Harry said, indicating his gem with a slight smile. "It's been prophesised that I'll be the one to kill Voldemort since before I was born; at least this way I've got a better shot of fighting him."

"Hold on; _prophesised_?" Conner said, looking at Harry in surprise. "As in, someone's seen the future and _told _you that you're going to be the one to kill him?"

"Well, actually the prophecy just said that Voldemort and I are the only ones who can kill each other, and there's some debate about that- some people think it's only the case because Voldemort believed the prophecy and acted to stop it-, but I'm not really clear on that; there's a reason I wasn't that keen on divination, after all..." Harry said, shaking his head in exasperation.

"_Damnit_..." Jason muttered, staring at his own Gem in frustration.

"Huh?" Trent asked, looking at the man who shared his colour in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Just..." Jason began, shrugging awkwardly as though he wasn't sure how to phrase what he wanted to say himself. "Sitting here, talking with you guys, seeing Tommy again... it made me realise something that I should have realised didn't make sense earlier."

"What?" Ginny asked.

"How did Voldemort get Rita's wand?" Jason clarified.

"Eh?" Ron said, looking at Jason in surprise. "Well, it's obvious; he found her base after she was defeated-"

"Her palace was on the moon- apart from a couple of occasions where she brought it down to Earth during some of her more successful campaigns against us to rub our faces in our 'imminent' defeat, but she always took it back afterwards anyway-, and she was defeated on the planet Triforia; from everything I've seen of you guys, I don't think inter-planetary travel is something your branch of magic can accomplish normally," Jason interrupted, looking over at Ron with a pointed stare that stopped the Yellow Guardian before he could finish his sentence. "I mean, I'm not saying you're lying or anything- if you say Voldemort has Rita's wand, I believe you-, but that doesn't mean that this makes sense; when you stop to think about it, there's something _wrong _with this whole mess that I don't like..."

Harry had to admit, when Jason pointed out the flaw in that calm manner of his, he was almost surprised that he hadn't thought of it himself, even if he'd had the obvious excuses that he didn't know that much about Jason's Ranger days and they had been too busy dealing with the current crisis after it started to worry about issues like _where _Voldemort had acquired his new power from.

"You think there's someone else involved?" Harry asked, looking apprehensively at the man who he couldn't help but regard as a kind of mentor figure (Jason might not know much about magic, but his Ranger-related skills were exceptional). "Someone who helped Voldemort acquire Rita's wand?"

"Let's just say that I heard a few stories about who was left unaccounted for after the destruction of the Alliance of Evil that I wouldn't like to be confirmed," Jason said, shaking his head grimly as he tried not to think about the most obvious concern plaguing him right now.

If there was someone out there powerful enough to bring _Goldar _back to life after what Rangers still grimly referred to as the 'Z-Wave' had struck him, and that someone had formed an alliance with Voldemort...

The sudden sound of explosions and screams from outside drew his attention away from that thought, Jason almost automatically leaping into action to look out of the window at the street as his teammates and Tommy's protégés joined him.

For a moment, he saw the golden helmet-like attire and the gold armour around the upper body of the figure responsible for this current attack and thought for a moment that Scorpina was back, but then he took in the figure's greater height and the longer, wilder hair extending down from under her helmet, and abandoned that thought; this woman might have Scorpina's armour, but she wasn't the woman in question.

"Who the Hell-?" Conner began, ignoring the hustle around them as the rest of the people in the cyber-cafe ran for the door and down the street; instincts honed by a year of Power Rangers being active in Reefside drove the civilians to get out of the danger zone as quickly as possible, while the Rangers stayed subtly behind and in a corner so that nobody noticed that they weren't following the trend.

"_Bellatrix_!" Harry, Ron and Ginny said virtually simultaneously, their eyes wide with horror at the sight of the woman who was even now launching spells at the buildings around, a wand in one hand and an elaborate golden gauntlet over the other, each one launching spells as she walked down the street, launching maniacally as she did so.

"One of your guys, huh?" Ethan asked, looking apprehensively over at the Guardian Rangers.

"She's one of the people who follow our... main opponent, if that's what you mean," Ron muttered, taking a few moments to consider the best way of phrasing what he was about to say even as he grimly stared at the woman outside. "She's so deranged she drove the parents of a friend of ours into a catatonic state when he was barely even a kid just in _case _they knew something about what might have happened to their 'boss' at a time when everyone else was certain he was dead..."

"She did _what_?" Sylvia yelled, looking sharply at the now-identified Bellatrix.

"OK, it's official; add Scorpina's armour to the equation, and I _definitely _don't like what we're up against here," Jason said, glancing over at his team. "Scorpina was another one of Rita and Zedd's cronies after Goldar; she didn't get out as much as him, but she was at least as good at hand-to-hand as he was, and she was a pretty formidable fighter. She dropped out of sight after Zedd took over the first time, and I was never clear on what happened to her afterwards, but if her armour's here..."

"She's probably dead too, huh?" Trent finished for him.

"Yeah," Jason confirmed, nodding at the White Dino Thunder Ranger before he turned his attention back to the sight before them. "At least that answers one question; someone's _definitely _helping Voldemort access Rita's old resources..."

"Uh... not meaning to poke holes in your theory, but couldn't Goldar have given him that armour?" Ron asked, looking slightly awkwardly at their Ranger mentor. "I mean, they _are _working together-"

"Given that someone had to bring Goldar back to life after his last appearance in the first place, that still leaves us with a lot of questions," Jason said, before he turned to look more pointedly at his team. "But that's an issue for later; right now, our main priority has to be stopping this 'Bellatrix' before she can do any more damage."

"I can head back to the command centre and see what Hermione and Doctor O. have done with the Dino Gems," Conner suggested, indicating the door with a slight shrug.

"Think you can run fast enough?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I can," Conner replied, nodding grimly at the young man who wore his colour.

"If Bellatrix is anything like Scorpina was, we could use all the back-up we can get," Jason said, smiling grimly over at Conner. "Tell Hermione and Tommy to do what they can; we'll hold the line here as long as possible."

"We can-" Kira began.

"Stay back until you're needed; we can't afford possible distractions against someone this powerful," Jason interjected, looking resolutely over at the female Yellow Ranger for a moment before he took a quick glance at the surroundings to confirm that they were currently alone before he turned to his teammates. "OK guys, let's do this."

"Hogwarts Guardians, _attivare_!" Harry, Ron and Ginny yelled, pointing their wands at the gems on their wrists.

"Black Guardian power, _now_!"

"White Dragon Guardian power, _now_!"

Ignoring the slightly uncomfortable expressions on the other Rangers' faces- not that Jason could blame them; he knew from experience that it always felt slightly strange watching other people morph when you couldn't do it yourself-, the Hogwarts Guardians hurried out of the cyber-cafe to take up position in front of Bellatrix.

Jason didn't know what kind of additional powers this woman would have compared to what the original Scorpina had possessed, but he was already fairly certain that this fight wasn't going to be a simple one...

* * *

"All right, Bellatrix Lestrange," Harry said, taking care to put some extra depth in his voice as he glared at the woman who had tortured his friend's parents for the sake of it, his fingers tightening around his Guardian Blade in preparation for what was about to happen, "you've got our attention; what now?"

"Ah, you _are _here, 'Hogwarts Guardians'!" Bellatrix said, smirking as she looked at the five figures before her. "Excellent to see you at last!"

"Yeah, great to see you too; care to clarify what you're doing dressed like _that_?" Jason asked, indicating her armour with Saba. "Last time I saw that armour, it was being worn by someone a _hell _of a lot saner than you..."

"She was executed for failure several years ago; an associate simply kept this armour in storage until my Lord requested it," Bellatrix replied, an appearance of supreme satisfaction in her voice as she indicated the golden gauntlet around her left arm with a casual wave of her hand before she turned her attention back to her current opponents. "And I _assure_ you, my dear Guardians, I am _far _more dangerous than she could _ever _be..."

"Is it my imagination, or does she actually sound a lot saner than she was?" Ginny asked Harry anxiously out of the corner of her mouth.

"Maybe, but we don't have time to worry about that," Harry replied, his voice low before he turned his attention back to the woman before him. "OK then, Miss Lestrange; let's _do _this!"

He just hoped that the Dino Thunder Rangers would be able to help them out; he might not know what this 'Scorpina' Jason had told them about had been capable of, but he also knew that Voldemort wouldn't have given Bellatrix this kind of upgrade unless he was at least fairly certain it would help her defeat them...


	32. A New Attack

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he hurried towards his old teacher's house, Conner didn't even allow himself to think about the slight ache in his legs- he was used to using this power in short bursts to get the edge on his enemies in a fight, but a sustained 'race' like what he was doing now was a bit more difficult-; right now, his mind was on all the new information they'd learned since the newest Ranger team had come into their lives.

He'd known about magic since that whole thing with Ethan falling victim to Tutenhawken's curse- Ranger powers were basically just advanced technology, when you got down to it; he'd always assumed that the 'Zordon' guy Doctor O. had told them about had just used technology that was so advanced it was almost indistinguishable from magic-, but the idea that there was an entire _world _of magic hidden out there, underneath the society that they'd all gotten used to seeing...

It was strange, but there was definitely something exciting about it; it was... nice, was the best term he could think of right now... to know that Earth had more mysteries to offer than just the existence of the Morphing Grid and the powers that came with it.

God... he'd thought that the hero thing had been finished when they'd drained their Dino Gems during that last fight with Mesogog, and while he'd appreciated the chance to take a break from having the world on his shoulders, he'd kind of missed the thrill and the feeling of camaraderie he'd had back then, to say nothing of the feeling that he was doing something that actually made a _difference _to peoples' lives.

The chance to work with more Rangers against something like that 'Bellatrix' chick might be dangerous, but if it meant a return to the old days when he could help people, he could cope with that...

"We've got a problem," he said, coming to a halt in the remains of the command centre as Hermione and Doctor O. turned to look at him from where they were studying the Dino Gems on a table in the centre of the room. "Some woman your teammates identified as Bellatrix has shown up-"

"_Bellatrix Lestrange_?" Hermione asked, looking at him with obvious shock.

"That's bad?" Tommy asked, looking apprehensively at the Blue Ranger's shock.

"We're talking about a woman who tortured two people into a catatonic state on the chance that they knew something about someone who was meant to be dead _before _she spent the better part of fourteen years locked up in the worst prison imaginable and forced to relive the worst memories of her life during that time; I'd say that's pretty bad!" Hermione said, looking anxiously over at Tommy before she turned back to Conner. "Look, I'm still working on getting these Gems of yours recharged, but that might have to wait; Bellatrix is dangerous, but with our gems-"

"Actually, she's not just another witch any more; Jason said that she seems to have acquired the armour of someone called... Scorpina?" Conner added, looking over at his own mentor and finding himself relatively unsurprised at the obvious shock on his face; judging by Jason's reaction, this 'Scorpina' chick had _definitely _been a tough customer.

"_Scorpina_?" Doctor O. said, practically copying Hermione's tone before he looked over at the latest Blue Ranger. "I take it you weren't exaggerating what Bellatrix was capable of when you knew her?"

"She's basically Voldemort's most trusted follower; Harry once said that Riddle- Voldemort's real name is Tom Riddle- probably trusts Bellatrix's ruthlessness as much as he trusts any of his Death Eaters," Hermione replied resolutely, before she turned her attention back to the gems. "OK, if Voldemort's brought the power of two people that apparently dangerous into one body, we're going to have to get back-up sooner rather than later; I _need _to get these gems working before we do anything else..."

"Good call," Tommy said, his attention shifting between Conner and Hermione. "Conner, we'll do what we can to try and recharge the gems; in the meantime, do what you can to help Jason and the others keep this 'Bellatrix' contained until we're ready to hit her with everything we've got."

"You really think what we've got won't be enough?" Hermione asked, looking apprehensively over at Tommy; if it had been any other occasion, she would have argued that he couldn't know what they were capable of, but given his apparent experience with that 'Scorpina' woman he'd mentioned Hermione felt 'comfortable' assuming the worst.

"I'd like to think that it would- Jason wouldn't have spoken that positively about you if you couldn't do the job-, but after Scorpina walked away from fights with even our strongest zords back in the day, I don't want to take any chances," the older man clarified, his expression grim as he looked at the gems on the table in front of him. "What do you think; will they be ready?"

"Well, from what I've seen, they were actually already starting to recharge on their own before you even showed them to me- the kind of power we're talking about probably couldn't be drained away _that _easily-, but whether I'll be able to give them the kind of boost we need right now is something else..." Hermione said, her voice trailing off as Conner and Tommy looked at her with a pointed expression that somehow made Hermione feel the unfamiliar feeling that she'd just made a mistake. "Hey, give me a break here; even in my Ranger career, it's not like I do this kind of thing regularly!"

"I get that," Tommy said, his expression softening slightly as he walked over to look reassuringly at the young woman in front of him. "Just... look, the thing you need to recognise is that, when you're in a team, sometimes the most important thing you can do is remember that you're in a _team_; you're not solely responsible if things don't work out the way you want them to. I'm not saying you have to lie and say that you have complete confidence in something when you don't, but that doesn't mean you should start panicking about taking responsibility for everything that might go wrong because of something you've done; we're all trying to contribute to the final victory here, but you don't have to feel totally responsible if your part doesn't entirely work out."

"Yeah," Conner said, smiling slightly awkwardly at the older woman. "Look, we get that you can't give anyone a guarantee that you're going to be able to charge the gems up, but there's not exactly much choice left right now; if you think these can help, we'll take that chance and rely on ourselves if something goes wrong."

After a moment's silence as she stared at the gems before her for a final time, Hermione nodded.

"All right," she said, smiling slightly over at the other two Rangers as she picked up the gems and turned to return them to their owners. "I'm _fairly _confident that what we've got should do the job, but I will stress that I can only restore anything that you had access to when you lost your powers; you'll be able to morph and use your weapons, but you won't have your zords back..."

"So, in other words, we focus on the ground combat and you guys tackle things if the fight goes to a higher level?" Conner said, shrugging in casual understanding. "No sweat; we'll do what we can so that you can focus on doing what you can."

"Exactly," Tommy said, slipping his gem into his pocket and walking over to a small pile of boxes on a nearby table, opening one of the boxes and taking something out of it.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, noting Tommy slip whatever he'd just taken out of the box into his pocket before she could get a good look at it.

"Something that I think we'll need before this is over," Tommy said grimly, before he picked up the bracelet that Hermione guessed was his old Dino Thunder morpher and looked grimly over at Hermione. "We're ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Hermione replied, pushing the immediate questions aside; if Tommy thought that what he'd discovered would help, she had faith from Jason's stories about his old friend that he'd tell her what it was if he thought he should. "I can't guarantee that the gems will hold out for long- I've never tried using this kind of magic on anything like these things-, but it's the best I can do with the resources available."

"In other words, do what we can, but don't push our luck, huh?" Conner said, smiling in understanding at the Blue Guardian Ranger as he picked up his teammates' morphers. "Just let us do what we can; you guys can handle it when things move on to a larger scale."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that..." Tommy muttered, as he prepared to activate his old Dino Morpher.

He didn't like to mention it to Hermione, but if Bellatrix was anything like Scorpina, she'd only become increasingly less pleasant if she was enlarged, and without knowing anything about her team's zords, he wouldn't like to bet on their chances of victory...

* * *

"_Damnit_!" Ron yelled, narrowly vaulting over another blow from 'Scorpatrix' as his latest attempt to fire a spell at their foe met with the same minimal response that they were coming to expect from their attempts to fight back. "Just _once_, could he send something out against us that _won't _resist magic?"

"Oh, he won't have time to send anything _else _after you, because you'll all be _dead_!" 'Scorpatrix' said, smirking as she lashed out with her tail-weapon, knocking the Yellow Guardian down before she turned to counter the Green Guardian's attempted sword-blow. "I was my Lord's greatest follower _before _I became-!"

"Shut _up_!" Harry yelled, diving in to kick Scorpatrix in the back of the head, but the victory was cut short when she kicked out and knocked Harry off his feet even as she fell forward, quickly regaining her balance and springing back into action before the other Guardians could catch her off-guard.

"There has to be _something _we can do-!" Kira said, looking desperately at her remaining teammates, the three Dino Thunder Rangers standing off to the side as the Hogwarts Guardians clashed with their current enemy.

"Trust me," Sylvia muttered, wincing as she got back to her feet, clutching her sore back as she looked grimly at the former Yellow Ranger, "best thing you can do now is wait for back-up; all we can do is hold the line-"

"The only line involved in this situation are the lines that people are going to need to draw to determine the size of your graves!" Scorpatrix yelled, laughing insanely as she leapt up behind her distracted foe and struck the Black Guardian in the back with another spell, the gold-armoured woman still holding back Ginny with her other hand. "You really think that _this _pathetic assault is going to stop me? I have been training for _ages_ for the chance to prove my loyalty to the Dark Lord-!"

"Yeah, and I've been doing this for years; no matter what your fellow monsters think, fighting Rangers is _not _that simple," Jason said, lashing out with Saba as Scorpatrix kicked Ginny away from her, Saba's attack knocking the golden-armoured woman off-balance before he followed the sword attack up with a kick to the face. "You can go on about how you've been _trained _to kill us, but one thing Rangers learn from the beginning is that you _don't _die that easily!"

"And trust me," another voice said, a satisfied tone to its voice as the speaker drew ever closer, the roar of an engine accompanying it, "if you think _that's _bad, you _really _don't want to know what the old Rangers can do when we come back to help out the new guys!"

"What-?" Scorpatrix began, turning around just in time for a black ATV with golden edges to crash into her, sending her sprawling to the ground as a figure in a red shirt appeared alongside the Dino Thunder Rangers, looking urgently at them.

"Connor?" Kira asked, looking at her team's Red Ranger in surprise; she'd almost forgotten how quickly he could move when he wanted to. "What-?"

"You'll need these," Connor said, passing three gems to his teammates along with the relevant morphers they had been attached to in the past. "Hermione charged them up, but you're going to need to move fast; she doesn't know how long these things are going to last."

"In other words, hit her hard and fast before you can run out of juice," Hermione said, landing beside them as the familiar form of the Black Dino Thunder Ranger leapt off his ATV and hurried over to join his old team.

"You're back!" Ron said, giving Hermione a sudden impulsive hug before he stepped away from her as though he'd only just realised what he was doing. "I mean, well, y'know, good to see you..."

"OK, moving on from that, can we focus on what we _need _to do right now?" Kira asked, indicating her now-reassembled morpher as Scorpatrix began to get back to her feet.

"Right!" Conner said, as he and the other Dino Thunder Rangers activated their morphers and glared in the direction of their adversary.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! HAH!" the four teens yelled- although the Hogwarts Guardians noted that Trent just said "White Ranger, Power Up!", even if there wasn't time to ask him why his 'morph call' was different from the others-, slamming their fingers down on their morpher's activation controls before leaping up into the air, their bodies momentarily surrounded by white light before they landed, now clad in their familiar multi-coloured Ranger costumes.

"_Nice_," Ginny said, nodding in approval at their new allies' 'work clothes'.

"We do what we can," Ethan said, sounding like he was smiling at her under his helmet before he and his team turned their attention to Scorpatrix, leaping into battle alongside the other Rangers.

Despite the obvious risk of the Rangers getting in each others' way due to the mass of Rangers arrayed against the single adversary, each team managed to quickly fall into a neatly-rotating pattern of attacking Scorpatrix in twos or threes before they ducked aside, allowing them to both avoid her retaliatory attack and allow their fresher allies to pick up the slack.

The repeated hit-and-run strategy was tricky to effectively co-ordinate without any advance planning between the teams, but the strategy seemed to be paying off; with at least two of them attacking at one time, Scorpatrix had less opportunity to strike back, and it also limited the possibility that any of the Rangers would accidentally attack the person currently assisting their attack.

It wasn't going to be easy- Scorpatrix wasn't showing any signs of being ready to give up the fight just yet-, but they were _definitely _making an impact on her...

Then Jason and Tommy noticed a distinctive-looking grenade-esque object hurtling for the ground near them, and they knew that things were just about to get worse.

"_Get back_!" both veteran Rangers yelled, their respective teams quickly responding to the order as they dived backwards, leaving Scorpatrix to be struck by the 'grenade'.

As the smoke of the explosion faded, a new, larger form emerged from the site of the blast, rapidly expanding upwards to the point where it was easily superior in size to some of the buildings in the immediate vicinity. Jason and Tommy noted grimly that her new form resembled Scorpina's monstrous enlarged form, but this version included long dark 'hair' and what looked like a wand where the left claw had been on Scorpina, along with a long dark robe.

"Oh, _crap_..." Sylvia said, looking apprehensively up at the creature in front of them. "_This _is gonna suck..."

"Not if we hit her hard enough and fast enough," Harry said, grimly aiming his wand at his gem as the others followed his example. "Guardian Zord power, _attivare_!"

"White Dragon Guardian Zord power, _now_!"

"Black Guardian zords, power up!"

In a matter of moments, all six of the Hogwarts Guardian Rangers were back in their zords, the Dark Zords and Hogwarts Zords combining in their respective Megazords as the White Dragon transformed into the White Warrior, clearly deciding to try a repeat of the smaller strategy that had been so effective before Scorpatrix grew.

"Whoa..." Ethan said, the Dino Thunder Rangers watching the new zords from the ground with slightly envious grins. "Now _those _are cool!"

"Tell me about it; why didn't we ever get a zord that could transform by itself?" Conner asked, glancing over at his mentor with a glare of feigned frustration.

"It's not like I'm responsible for how every zord egg-" Tommy began, only to be forced to duck aside when a swam of creatures resembling humanoid crows suddenly appeared around them, squawking and cackling as they took up positions around the Rangers.

"Tengas..." Tommy groaned, as he shifted into position. "I _hate _these guys..."

"Weren't they one of the henchmen you had to deal with back in the day?" Ethan asked, as he and the other Rangers quickly leapt into action to tackle the creatures.

"Less history, more ass-kicking, OK?" Conner said, quickly leaping into action as he swung the Tyranno Rod around himself, knocking the nearest Tengas off their feet. Kira quickly followed his cue by drawing her Ptera Grips and charging through the bird-like warriors, leaving Trent to launch energy daggers from the Drago-Dagger at them while Ethan and Doctor O. simply charged through the surrounding enemies with their own weapons.

It might have been a while since they were in action but it was true what they said; you could take the powers out of the Ranger, but you couldn't take the _Ranger _out of the Ranger. It had been a while since Conner had been in combat, but getting back into the swing of things was easier than he'd ever imagined it would be; it was as though, having regained his power, his body just remembered what it had to do as though he'd never even had a reason to stop it in the first place...

Then he felt something shift in the air above him, and a glance upwards revealed something that, from Doctor O.'s tales of his Ranger career, could only be a portal of some sort; a large blue-and-red hole had formed in the air right behind the three large zords that were currently fighting against Scorpatrix, and seemed to be drawing-

"WHOA!" Conner yelled, as he suddenly felt his own feet leave the ground, similar yells from around him giving him just enough time to see that the rest of the Dino Thunder Rangers were being apparently pulled towards the portal as well- he vaguely noticed the tengas flying away in the other direction, but he couldn't bother about that right now-, zords lifting up off their feet to be hurled towards the portal along with his team...

* * *

"Perfect..." Voldemort reflected, chuckling slightly as he studied the former Pensieve that he'd 'adapted' to spy on his enemies when they were in action.

Relying on other's magic might be distasteful to him, but he couldn't deny that his new strategy had certainly proven to be successful; not only had he neatly disposed of the Hogwarts Guardians, but he had even managed to take care of those other Rangers into the bargain.

A few minor tweaks to that ridiculous concept of the 'Orb of Doom'- why anyone would _want _to turn back time he'd never know-, and his enemies had been disposed of in the most perfect manner conceivable; trapped in another universe, chosen entirely at random by the Orb's time-shifting powers, with an excellent chance that they'd never manage to find a way back even if they worked out what had happened to them in the first place.

He might send something through later on to ensure their defeat- give him a little time to determine what exact 'frequency' had been used by the Orb to determine the target destination that they had been sent to and all should be fine-, but even if they were still alive, they could _never _find their way back.

Now, at last, with his horcruxes protected from discovery once more, it was time to see about putting them somewhere else; maybe he should see about getting that sword placed where he'd originally planned to put the cup, rather than continue that little game of misdirection he'd been attempting so far...

* * *

AN: Regarding what happened to the Rangers at the end, that's where this story becomes a collaboration between myself and another writer's work; the next chapter will be uploaded when we're both ready for it.


	33. A Whole New World

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: This chapter was written in collaboration with William Lamb, as this story now intersects with his intriguing AU Harry Potter/Power Rangers crossover _Power Rangers Patronus Force_; details about how this 'Potterverse' differs from the world we know will be revealed over time if you haven't read that story already

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"Ugh..." Harry muttered, shaking his head as he slowly opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was something forcing the Guardian Megazord off its feet and pulling it backwards; as far as he could tell, he was still morphed, but he definitely wasn't in the zord any more, and the others-

_The others_!

Getting back to his feet as quickly as he could, Harry urgently took in his surroundings, only allowing himself to relax when he had confirmed that all five of the other Hogwarts Guardians were lying around him, Jason already beginning to stir. Hurrying over to crouch down beside Ginny, Harry smiled hopefully at her as the girl he loved raised her head, looking at him weakly even with her actual expression concealed by her helmet.

"H...Harry?" she asked uncertainly. "What happened?"

"I'm still working on that," Harry said, glancing around at his friends as they began to regain consciousness, noting with relief that nobody else seemed to be unharmed; even Sylvia just seemed to be dazed rather than hurt. "Jason, did what just happened to us remind you of anything?"

"Couple of thoughts, but nothing definite-" Jason began, before he froze as his gaze fixed on something behind Harry. "Oh, _that's _not good..."

"What?" Harry asked, before he turned around and his eyes widened in shock at the sight in front of him.

The Guardian Zords lying around them- fortunately still assembled into their Megazord forms; at least if things turned ugly they wouldn't have to waste time getting into too many different zords to get them to retreat- weren't that much of a surprise, of course; he'd partly expected Voldemort to have tried to steal them while the Rangers were unconscious, but supposed that the fact that he was even waking up meant that Voldemort hadn't been able to get to them for some reason.

It was the _other _five zords in the area that were the real shock.

Standing in front of their zords were five completely unfamiliar zords, each one looking in the direction of the zords and the Rangers now lying on the ground in a manner that Harry wasn't sure represented curiosity or hostility. The zords in question consisted of a large red wolf with gold markings around its face and joints, a yellow zord that put him in mind of Jason's description of the Sabre-Toothed Tiger zord that had belonged to the original Yellow Ranger aside from the lack of the Tiger's large fangs, a blue hawk with sharp silver talons and beak sitting on the yellow cat's back, what looked for all the world like a white hair with pink markings, and a large black rhinoceros with a distinctive silver horn in the middle of its nose and gold markings along its sides.

"Oh my God..." Hermione whispered, staring in surprise at the creatures before them. "This is... _incredible_..."

"Yeah, new zords, great, except for the fact that we don't know what they're _doing _here," Conner pointed out, looking over at the newer Blue Ranger in exasperation. "I don't know about your team, but in my team, if new zords showed up like this and _we _weren't in them, that generally meant that the bad guys were using them."

"So... ideas?" Ron asked, looking anxiously over at the Dino Thunder Rangers.

"Why are you looking at us?" Kira asked, looking in exasperation at her fellow Yellow Ranger. "In case you've forgotten, it was _your _villain who... did whatever he did that sent us here!"

"Yeah, but you're the more experienced team here, and your mentor's apparently the expert at getting the job done; I just thought that-" Ron began.

"_Uh... excuse me_," a voice suddenly said from the Red Wolf, the large zord looking down at them with a stare that somehow expressed curiosity even if it was still glaring, "_but could you guys stop arguing with each other long enough to speak to us_?"

"Hold on; are you talking to us from _inside _the zord, or are you _literally _the zord?" Tommy asked, stepping forward to address the wolf in front of them, the other Rangers stepping back slightly to allow the Black Dino Thunder Ranger to take over the conversation.

"_I'm piloting the Zord_," the voice replied, sounding slightly surprised at the question but willing to continue talking anyway. "_I am the Patronus Force Red Ranger. Do you require assistance_?"

Before Tommy could answer, the Guardian Megazord suddenly lunged forward and struck the wolf zord with a powerful blow that sent it flying into the air, just as a mass of familiar bird-like warriors surrounded the Rangers.

"Tengas!" Tommy yelled, shifting into a combat stance as he looked urgently around at the other Rangers. "They were some of Zedd's best foot soldiers-"

"Actually, Voldemort's been using them as well," Harry said, looking anxiously up at the Guardian Megazord even as he drew his Guardian Blade. "What I want to know is what's happening up-?"

"_How do you like the little surprise I've been saving, Red Ranger_?" a voice suddenly said from the Guardian Megazord.

"_ZEDD_?" Tommy and Jason yelled in simultaneous horror.

"Hold on; Zedd as in _Lord _Zedd?" Ethan asked, looking over at his mentor in shock. "I thought you said the guy was taken out during that 'Countdown to Destruction' mess-!"

"He _was_ back home, but evidently that's not been the case _here_," Hermione said, glancing over at the White and Black Guardian Rangers as the five zords in front of them began to join together. "Jason, Sylvia,you guys do what you can to help these guys; just try _not _to damage the zords!"

"_Not _gonna happen," Jason promised grimly, glancing up at the White Warrior as Sylvia leapt into the Dark Megazord. "I already lost one Megazord to Zedd; I'm not going to make it two."

With that said, he leapt into the air towards his zord, leaving the other Guardian Rangers and the Dino Thunder Rangers to trade blows with the Tengas around them.

_Great_... Harry mused to himself, as he dodged a series of rapid blows from the bird-like warriors, comforted by the sight of Ginny charging through them with her usual speed off to his side. _We've been awake five minutes, and we've got a bunch of new Rangers on the scene _and _some supposedly dead guy's taken control of our zords_...

Just once, couldn't they have an easy crisis?

* * *

If the situation had involved them fighting any other kind of monster, Sylvia reflected that she would have probably enjoyed the chance to fight alongside other Rangers, particularly ones with such an interesting Megazord; she'd been distracted by the need to regain control of her zord- whatever sent them here had briefly shut down the main power before she re-initialised the system; the fact that her and Jason's zords were all powered by them had probably helped them reboot quicker, while the Guardian Megazord had been more vulnerable as it took more time for the different power sources to work together-, but the new zord apparently used the wolf part as the main body while the rhinoceros served as the legs, leaving the cat and hare zords as arms while the hawk attached itself to the back...

Right now, however, her priority wasn't admiring the new zord; it was ensuring that their apparent 'allies' didn't damage _their _zord.

"HEY!" she yelled out, as the new zord landed a particularly damaging-looking kick on the Guardian Megazord that sent her new teammates' zords to the ground, temper and frustration overriding thoughts of caution. "BE CAREFUL! WE NEED THE GUARDIAN MEGAZORD INTACT!"

"_We'll do the best we can_!" the person who'd originally addressed the Rangers said over the loudspeakers. "_Our Blue Ranger's working on a solution at the moment_-"

Further conversation opportunities were temporarily cut short as the Guardian Megazord struck the new zord in the side, leaving Sylvia with no other choice but to knock the now-rogue Megazord away from the other one. As the other zord got to its feet, Jason and Sylvia struggled to fend off the Guardian Megazord's blows, desperately trying to prevent their former ally attacking them without causing long-term damage to it in return...

"_You in the zords_!" the other zord's apparent pilot suddenly yelled at them. "_We just discovered how Zedd's controlling your Guardian Megazord! You have to keep it busy long enough to buy us time to get around behind it_!"

"_Gotcha_!" Jason's voice replied from the White Warrior, Jason stepping up the attack on the Guardian Megazord as Sylvia did the same. For a few moments, it was nothing but motion as the three zords traded blows, the Guardian Megazord drawing ever closer to Jason and Sylvia as they refused to give any quarter, brief glances at the ground confirming that their friends were too caught up in their struggle against the sudden Tenga army to provide any kind of assistance to them...

Then the other zord suddenly appeared behind the Guardian Megazord, and Sylvia shifted tactics; hoping that she had guessed their reasons for such an unexpected manoeuvre correctly- she _had _seen something off about the Guardian Megazord's back, but she hadn't had the time to examine it in detail yet-, Sylvia manoeuvred the Dark Megazord to grab the Guardian Megazord's left arm, the White Warrior doing the same thing to the zord's right arm. With the Guardian Megazord temporarily immobilised, the other zord fired some kind of energy burst at the currently-trapped zord's back from the sword it held in its right hand- the energy blast actually looked a bit like a spell, now that Sylvia thought about it- and destroyed the briefly-glimpsed device, leaving the Guardian Megazord to slump forward as the fight went out of it.

"Oh, thank _God_..." Sylvia sighed, slumping back into her chair in relief. "At _last_, we stop something quickly...

Then a blast of energy struck the Guardian Megazord from the sky, and the zord had vanished from between the other three zords before any of them could do anything.

_Crap_... Sylvia mused to herself.

She'd probably use a stronger term when she worked out what had actually happened, but 'crap' would do for now.

* * *

"Oh, _crap_..." Ginny said, staring in horror at the location where their zord had been earlier; the tengas had vanished along with the zord when that energy blast had struck, but if it meant retaining access to her zord Ginny would have happily put up with a hundred of those things. "This is _so _bad..."

"Forget bad; we have _got _to get out of here and figure out what happened," Ethan said, indicating the still-unidentified other zord above them. "I don't know what's going on around here, but I think it's safe to say that there's _something _out of the ordinary here; there is _no _way that we can be dealing with a whole new set of zords _and _Rangers already?"

"Point; this is _way _too many Rangers active at one time..." Tommy said, nodding grimly at his team's Blue Ranger before he indicated a path off to the side. "Come on; let's go."

"Right," Harry said, activating his gem. "Jason, Sylvia, we're calling a temporary retreat to rethink our options; get the zords to go somewhere safe and we'll meet you on the park outskirts, OK?"

"_Check_," Sylvia said, the Dark Megazord already dividing into its separate components as the White Warrior transformed back into its dragon form and began to fly away, their pilots leaping down to join their teammates.

"_Wait_-!" the voice that had been speaking from the Red Wolf earlier began to call out.

"Sorry, but we've got a _lot _to figure out right now; we'll get back to you later!" Ginny said, hurrying off after her teammates as Sylvia and Jason's zords vanished into the sky.

Harry didn't like running out on potential allies like this, but with things as complicated as they were and the stakes this high, he couldn't afford to trust anyone too easily unless he had to.


	34. Worldly Contemplations

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Another chapter written in collaboration with William Lamb, albeit more indirectly than the last one as neither of our characters will meet (A bit of time-travel was incorporated into these events as well, but it had to be done for continuity purposes)

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he sat contemplatively on his throne, toying with his new, larger wand as he tried to make a decision one way or the other about his next move, Voldemort wondered if he should consider himself paranoid or prepared for what he was planning to do, given how effectively his last scheme had disposed of the Rangers.

He hadn't paid much attention to the history of the wand's previous bearer beyond the essentials needed to understand how to wield its power- after all, she could hardly be worth learning from if she had lost-, but he had studied enough to know that you could never take too much care when dealing with Power Rangers; Rita Repulsa had so often believed that she'd found the key to defeating her enemies, only to be undone by complacency or carelessness on her part.

They might be gone from this world for the moment, but Rangers appeared to have a frustrating habit of coming back from even the most complicated traps; if he wanted to ensure that they stayed lost, just in case they'd ended up in something that could actually give them what they needed, he should include an additional 'surprise' or two for them to deal with in whatever dimension that they had been sent to.

After all, Goldar had assured him that the Orb they used to transfer the Rangers to that other world could still access that reality if they wanted- it might be worth bringing the Rangers back eventually just to show them how he had won-, and with the Ministry takeover going so well and his followers installed in the relevant positions in Hogwarts, he had a few of his more... _interesting_... monster designs available that he hadn't gotten around to using against the Rangers yet.

It wouldn't be the easiest thing he'd ever attempted, but even if he didn't know how they were faring against the challenges of that other world, it would be satisfying to know that he'd given those Rangers- both the Hogwarts Guardians and their new 'allies' who had been dragged through the portal with them; an unintended side-effect, but hardly an unwelcome one either- something _very _interesting to deal with...

* * *

"OK," Harry said, looking grimly at his friends as they walked through the park where they had arrived, their zords having retreated to what they could only hope was a safe location while they had returned to their 'civilian' attire after finding a concealed area to power down in, "first things first; does anyone have _any _ideas what just happened to us?"

"Apart from the fact that we're not where we were in any sense of the word, no idea," Tommy said, shaking his head apologetically at Harry. "I've tried to think of an explanation for where that portal sent us, but the obvious ideas don't work; we're clearly still on Earth- I've been to enough alien planets and spent enough time with Andros to pick up the differences between worlds, and this is definitely Earth-, I've never heard of a 'Patronus Force' team in our past, and if this was the future you'd think they'd know who we are even if they don't know you-"

"_Hey_!" Sylvia said, glaring sharply over at her colour predecessor.

"I'm sure Doctor Oliver just meant that we've been on the move and haven't really stayed in one place long enough to develop a specific reputation rather than any kind of implied slight on our skills-" Hermione began hurriedly.

"Yeah, OK, Hermione, can we just focus on the situation at hand rather than try and apologise for everyone?" Ron said, looking over sharply at his old friend. "We're in enough of a mess as it is; we don't need to waste time apologising for crap like that..."

"And then there's the whole 'Zedd being alive' thing to take into account on top of everything else," Jason interjected, shaking his head grimly. "God... I was _really _hoping we'd seen the last of that bastard..."

"Uh... no offence, but I thought those files of yours said that Zedd was _converted _rather than... well, _killed_," Ethan said, looking uncertainly at his mentor. "I mean, couldn't it be possible-?"

"No," Tommy said, shaking his head firmly at Ethan. "Zedd was _completely _purged of his evil by the Z-Wave; if Rita's trusted enough in her new state to fulfil her new role, Zedd's not reverting back to normal either."

"Rita's got a new role?" Jason asked, looking over at Tommy in surprise. "What's that?"

"Just some rumours I heard about her becoming the guardian of an ancient magical temple in another dimension or something like that; I haven't had the chance to confirm it myself yet, but the point still stands," Tommy said, looking over at his old friend by way of explanation.

"Uh... could we get back to that 'Z-Wave' thing you mentioned?" Ginny asked curiously, cutting off Hermione's obvious attempt to ask for more information about something that almost certainly couldn't help them in the current crisis anyway. "What's that about?"

"Well... you heard about the 'Countdown to Destruction', right?" Jason asked, after exchanging a brief glance with Tommy; even after eight years, this kind of story was never something that got easier.

"The battle that resulted in most of the Ranger enemies of the previous few years mounting a massive assault on Earth that ended with their complete destruction?" Hermione asked, smiling and nodding in confirmation.

"Well... what we never really told the public was _how _it ended," Tommy explained, his expression grim as he looked at the Hogwarts Guardians, the Dino Thunder team stepping back slightly to take up almost sentry-like positions around the other seven in recognition of their mentor's need for privacy during this conversation. "You see, Zordon had been captured by the current team's enemies a relatively short while ago- they'd been trying to drain his powers but the sheer scale of them meant that it would take a while to finish the job; they did it for a year and still weren't finished-, and by the time the current Red Ranger found him, the assault was already fully underway. The only way to stop it was... well, we call it the 'Z-Wave'."

"The Z-Wave?" Ron said, looking at Earth's best Ranger in confusion.

"Basically, Zordon had the Red Ranger who found him shatter the energy tube that contained his essence," Tommy explained grimly. "It completely severed the last bits of energy keeping Zordon tied to this plane, but it resulted in his power being released in the form of the Z-Wave, the resulting release of good energy destroying virtually all of the enemies currently attacking. The only ones spared were those who had some potential for good in them, with the Wave converting them into the manifestations of their inner good; everyone else was pretty much disintegrated."

"Oh," Harry said, after a brief glance at his friends confirmed that they weren't entirely sure what the appropriate response was to news like that either. "So... Zedd was one of the ones who was... purified?"

"Yeah," Jason confirmed. "We didn't meet him ourselves, but Andros- the Red Ranger who actually fulfilled Zordon's request to kill him- checked up on them after the Countdown was over, and confirmed that they were alive and living life completely removed from anything related to their old evil activities; Zedd was apparently going into historical research or something like that."

"And... you're _that _sure he's trustworthy?" Ron asked, looking sceptically at his team's White Ranger. "I mean, the guy was trying to conquer Earth-?"

"Zordon's last act destroyed every manifestation of the evil magic he'd fought against all his existence; Zedd and Rita wouldn't have been converted if they were going to turn back on their own," Jason said, his straightforward faith in his old mentor obvious as he stared at Ron. "Trust me on this; the Zedd of our world is _not _coming back."

"OK," Harry said, holding up a hand in a brief warning gesture to Ron that he shouldn't pursue that line of argument any further before turning the assembled Rangers' attention back to their most immediate concern. "Well, now that we've sorted that out, let's focus on figuring out where we are for this 'Zedd' guy to still be around; does anyone-?"

"Hey, look!" Kira said, pulling something out of a nearby rubbish bin.

"Kira, we're not-" Trent began, looking uncertainly at the slightly stained object in his female teammate's hand.

"A newspaper?" Conner interrupted, smiling in relief at the sight as he took in what Kira was holding, taking the paper from her and opening it out, trying to restrain his wince at the other rubbish that had gathered on top of the paper before Kira found it; it looked like someone had thrown out an unfinished burger or something like that, among other things. "OK, since this is the _Angel Grove Clarion_, I'll assume that's where we are-"

"_Angel Grove Clarion_?" Tommy and Jason repeated, looking at each other in shock before they grabbed the paper from Conner's hands, almost tearing it before the younger Red Ranger relaxed his grip in time.

"Uh... correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a good thing?" Ethan asked uncertainly, after Tommy and Jason had spent a few moments studying the stained paper in their hands. "I mean, as I recall you guys both _lived _in Angel Grove when you were Rangers-"

"Except that this paper is dated just under ten years ago and I don't recall a _thing _about us ever fighting something that looked like _that_," Tommy said, indicating the photograph on the cover, which showed the Patronus Megazord fighting what looked like a humanoid skeleton with a stag's skull and a large rat with a silver right claw, clearly all giant-size.

"Ah," Trent said, nodding grimly at the photograph. "That _is _bad..."

"So... should we assume that we're in some kind of 'evil twin' universe, or just hope that Moldywart or whatever his name is sent us somewhere at random and hope for the best?" Conner asked.

"Moldywart?" Ginny repeated, looking over at Conner with a slight smile.

"I know that's not right; it's just-" Conner began.

"No, I like it," Ginny reassured him, her smile broadening as she looked at the Red Ranger, prompting Harry to fight down a brief surge of jealousy before he noticed a surprisingly similar expression to the one that he was sure was on his face on Kira's as she looked at the two...

"Anyway," Jason said, drawing Harry's thoughts back to the present, "given that nobody's tried to actually attack us apart from Zedd so far- and I think we can all agree that this 'Patronus Force' could have done that pretty easily if they'd wanted to-, maybe we're just talking... I dunno, alternate reality?"

"Alter-what?" Ron asked.

"Alternate reality," Ethan explained, smiling slightly over at the Yellow Ranger. "You know, a world where history's basically the same as what we know up to a certain point, but in this world someone made some crucial decision differently; you chose not to... how'd you meet these guys anyway?"

"Well, I sat in Harry's compartment when we were on the train to school for the first time..." Ron said uncertainly.

"Exactly; somewhere out there, there's probably at least one Earth where you _didn't _share a compartment with him because you found somewhere else first," Ethan said, nodding at the male Yellow Ranger with a smile.

"So... you think we're in an alternate version of the past where this... 'Patronus Force' existed?" Ron asked, uncertainly indicating the paper.

"Sticking us in a completely different world so that we can't interfere with his plans?" Harry said, smiling grimly at his friends. "Definitely sounds like something Voldemort would do."

"Sticking you in a world that _also _has Rangers in it?" Trent asked sceptically. "Doesn't that seem a bit... stupid?"

"Not if he didn't know where he was sending us," Hermione said with a smile. "Voldemort might be one of the most skilled wizards our world's ever produced, but he's dealing with some very complicated new types of magic right now; it's possible he was just trying to dispose of us and didn't think that the possibility that we'd be sent to a world that would be able to help us was high enough to concern him..."

"Look," Jason said, looking grimly around at the other Rangers, "whatever reason Voldemort had for sending us here, our immediate priority should be getting somewhere to rest; it's getting late, and without our usual options to fall back on we need to find somewhere for the night soon if we're going to get anywhere."

"Jason's got a point," Tommy confirmed as he looked around at his team, Harry only just noticing that the sun was starting to get lower than it had been. "We might not be in _immediate _danger here, but we still don't know where we are; our best option right now is to just find somewhere to stay for the night."

"Uh... do we have the money for that?" Conner asked, looking awkwardly at the others. "I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure credit cards issues in other realities might not count, and we don't have _that _much cash on us..."

"We can probably use a few spells to create copies of some of your notes; it's not magical money, so it shouldn't be protected from the usual spells against that in the wizarding world," Hermione said, shrugging as her original three teammates turned to stare at her. "What; it's not like we're committing fraud or anything, we're just trying to sustain ourselves until we can get home."

After a few moments of grim staring as the Rangers looked uncertainly at each other, Ethan shrugged.

"Like you said, we're here to save the world; a little financial tweaking's fairly minor in the grand scheme of things," he said.

"Just don't leave anything that was obviously created later than this year, and we should be fine," Tommy added, before he turned to look at Jason. "OK, you lived here longer than me; where'd you recommend we stay for the night?"


	35. Searching for the Force

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Another chapter written in collaboration with William Lamb, set the morning after the Rangers' arrival

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As she sat in the library the following morning, her team's Black Ranger sitting opposite her as they went over the newspapers she'd discovered, Hermione had to admit that she was actually rather enjoying this; after the chaos of the last few weeks of searching for horcruxes while learning how to use their new Ranger powers, it was actually kind of nice to feel that she was getting back to her 'roots' and carrying out research, even if it wasn't the type she was used to.

The previous night's rest had been relatively refreshing; they'd managed to find a couple of fairly decent hotel rooms for the night, even if they'd had to just have Jason and Tommy booking the two rooms while their respective teams rested on the floors in secret as they lacked the money to get enough rooms for all of them. Apart from a brief occasion where Harry had woken up in the middle of the night due to some kind of dream that he couldn't fully recall- it had apparently reminded Ron of Harry's reaction after some of his past scar-induced nightmares, but unlike those occasions Harry had no memory of what he'd actually dreamed of-, everything had gone relatively smoothly, and they'd managed to arrange to keep the room for a few more days while they tried to work out what to do next.

Actually working out what to next was the real challenge, however. While getting around Angel Grove wasn't too hard- they might not have a car, but there wasn't enough of the city to make it particularly difficult for the two teams to walk to get their current destination-, Tommy and Jason's attempt to avoid contact with anyone until they knew where their other selves were in this timeline had resulted in them taking more than the occasional detour.

When they'd passed by the library, Hermione had suggested that she could check over the library's newspaper archives to determine where its history had diverged from what Jason and Tommy knew, with Sylvia volunteering to assist her on the grounds that she had lived in Angel Grove herself and was old enough that any 'counterpart' of hers that might exist in this time would be too young for anyone to draw any direct link between them; she could probably pass herself off as her own aunt or something if they ran into someone who became too suspicious. Ethan and Trent were checking out a few addresses that Jason and Tommy had provided for them based on the houses where their fellow Rangers had lived in their reality at this point, but in case that didn't work out, Harry, Ginny, Connor and Kira had accompanied Jason and Tommy to check out some teen hangout that the old Rangers had used in the hope that they might stumble across a familiar face or two.

Right now, however, Hermione's only concern was tracing the history of the Patronus Force Rangers; Sylvia had helped her to pinpoint the moment when history had changed from what she remembered, but from there things had changed surprisingly quickly. According to everything they'd been able to find, after the Power Rangers that Tommy and Jason had been part of had acquired the Shogun Zords- Hermione had to admit that she was impressed at those zords; the idea of zords that could _all _fight the monsters when giant-size one-on-one had a certain appeal-, they had mysteriously vanished, with the Patronus Force appearing to apparently replace them during an attack on a nuclear research facility.

The Patronus Force had used the Shogun Zords against some kind of shapeshifting robot car shortly afterwards, but the zords that Hermione and the others had witnessed had apparently debuted shortly afterwards against a monster known as Toadwitch who put Hermione disturbingly in mind of Umbridge. After that, a monster referred to as 'Quafflehead' had resulted in the Patronus Force not only using their Megazord, but the Megazord had actually demonstrated magical abilities in repairing the damage afterwards- something that their zord hadn't been able to do, although Hermione supposed that it might be worth seeing if that could be changed-, and then, apart from the fight they'd read about in that paper Kira had found earlier, that seemed to be it aside from various minor monsters.

In other words, while Hermione had been able to work out where this world diverged from their own, she was no closer to figuring out how the Patronus Force had come into existence than she had been when she started out, and she and Sylvia had no idea where to start looking for additional information.

* * *

"_Damnit_..." Ethan said, as he and Trent sat down in the small cafe where they'd decided to stop for a snack. "Hours of walking, and _nothing_ to show for it..."

Trent hated to sound defeatist, but he had to admit that his old teammate had a good point. They'd tried to check out the addresses that Doctor O. had provided for his old team, but as far as they could tell from a casual glance- which had, admittedly, been fairly close-up thanks to Trent's camouflage ability-, while everyone who'd been on their mentor's old Ranger team had lived in those houses at some point, they apparently weren't there right now; either they'd apparently moved away, or their families were off somewhere else.

If they were going to get back to their world, they needed to figure out who these Rangers were, but working that out was proving to be frustratingly difficult...

Glancing at the television on the cafe wall, apparently broadcasting a local news channel at the moment, Trent's eyes widened at the sight on the screen; a large red lion-like monster in scarlet and gold armour with an eyepatch was currently fighting with the Patronus Force Rangers they'd met yesterday, with the Red Ranger launching blasts of some kind at him before the Black Ranger summoned what looked like a large rhino to charge the lion down, only for the creature to shrug off the attacks like they were nothing and continue fighting (He might have said something, but whoever had made this recording hadn't been able to get in close enough to record the sound of the conversation). Another attack from the monster nearly struck the Yellow Ranger before the White Ranger was able to intercept the attack with a blast of her own, followed by a brief pause as the Rangers seemed to be checking their 'watches' before they leapt into position around the lion-like monster, blasting it with powerful jets of water that caused it to explode into nothing, leaving only the Rangers standing around it before they vanished themselves, apparently teleporting away from the scene.

"Huh," Trent said, looking over at Ethan with a slightly stunned expression.

"Well," Ethan said, shrugging out of a lack of anything else to do with himself. "That was... different."

"Watching a fight rather than being part of it?" Trent asked, smiling slightly at his friend; they both knew that the lack of knowledge about this situation was also a factor, but right now they had other concerns. "Yeah, I know what you mean; strange, isn't it?"

"And that's _without _taking everything else into account," Ethan commented, indicating the area around him. "The TV's lower-quality, computers are far more clunky, there are shops out there whose brands have been closed for years by our time..."

He sighed as he slumped over the table, shaking his head in exasperation. "Just once, I'd like to get into a situation where we know how to handle it from the word go; it always sucks when we're trying to play catch-up all the time..."

"We'll work it out," Trent said with a shrug. "If I could get turned away from evil by accident, getting home when we're trying to get back should be easy."

"Let's just hope, anyway," Ethan said, shaking his head grimly as he stared at the food in front of him.

Trent could be as optimistic as he liked, but if they couldn't even really work out how they'd ended up here in the first place, it was going to be a _real _headache working out how to get back...

* * *

"You're sure this is the best choice?" Harry asked, looking uncertainly at the building before them; he acknowledged that he'd hardly had a traditional school life, but the idea of high school students having a bar equivalent to visit in their spare time that didn't serve alcoholic drinks still seemed strange to him.

"I'm sure," Jason replied with a reassuring nod at the young man he considered a kind of protégé, looking at the building before him with a casual smile. "It might have changed hands a bit, but the basic purpose looks the same; we all came to this place when we wanted to hang out and talk about recent events. If there's anywhere in Angel Grove where you can find out what's happening, whether it's called the Surf Spot or the Juice Bar, this is the place to do it."

"And the reason _you're _not going in there is...?" Ron asked, glancing uncertainly at his Ranger mentor as the two older men in the group stood in the shadows.

"Because Tommy and I are too old to pass as our other selves if we still live in Angel Grove in this reality and it would attract too much attention if we went in there and didn't know something that our other selves would even if we could come up with some kind of explanation to account for our greater age," Jason said, looking over at Ron with slight frustration. "Look, we just need you guys to see what you can find out about this world's past history and take it from there; once we know if the Patronus Force can be trusted or not, we should be able to find them fairly easily."

"All right," Harry said, glancing over at his assigned 'investigation team' of Ginny, Conner and Kira- Ron was remaining with Jason and Tommy in case magical assistance was required- and indicating the building in front of them. "Let's go."

"Just remember; be _casual_," Kira said, looking pointedly over at Conner as they left the shade and walked towards the building.

"What; you think I can't blend in?" Conner asked, looking over at Kira with a slightly hurt expression on his face. "I know what I'm doing, Kira-"

"Ssh, we're in," Ginny said, leaning over to whisper urgently at the other two Rangers before they entered the doors, quickly heading for a table and sitting down, glancing at the people around them.

"Well," Conner said at last, looking over at his teammates with a slight smile. "It's... comfy, anyway."

"Which at least lends some weight to the idea that it's still the meeting-place that Jason remembered it as," Harry said, as they sat down at a table, pulling out the menus to study them for a few moments before someone came over to their table, a notepad in their hand as she smiled politely at the group.

"Hi there," she said, her gaze lingering briefly on Connor and Harry before she continued speaking. "I'm Danielle; what can I get you?"

"Double cheeseburger, but without the onions," Connor said after a moment's pause to take a last glance over the menu.

"Just the taco salad for me, thanks," Kira commented.

"I'll just have the burger, but without the mayonnaise," Harry said.

"Uh... I'll have the...fish and chips?" Ginny asked at last, after spending a few moments looking over the menu uncertainly.

"Oh, and just bring us four sodas," Connor added.

"OK," Danielle said, nodding in confirmation at the group as she noted down the last detail before walking away, leaving Connor and Kira to look at Ginny with slight surprise.

"Look, I'm sorry I took a while to order, but it's not my fault if I'm a bit inexperienced with muggle cuisine; we don't really spend that much time in the muggle world..." Ginny began, trailing off as she looked up at her friends with a slight smile. "Which, now that I think about it, is slightly ironic."

"Huh?" Conner asked, looking at her curiously.

"It's just... my dad's always been so enthusiastic about muggle life, but when you get down to it, we haven't actually _lived _in it," Ginny clarified, sighing as she looked around at her two new friends. "Here I am, fighting to save the entire world from the most powerful dark wizard our society's produced in almost three centuries, and when you get down to it I really don't know much about it..."

"Hey, don't worry about it; _nobody _knows much about the world when they're our age," Kira said, smiling reassuringly at the younger girl. "I mean, I've been interested in singing for as long as I can remember, but it's only been relatively recently that I've realised how hard it is; I've gone from being a big fish in a small pond at Reefside to being an even smaller fish on the worldwide music scene, and I'm still working on getting my sound out there while Connor's started these soccer camps-"

"It's just a provisional thing at the moment; trying to give kids the opportunity to do something after school that helps encourage teamwork and physical activity, you know," Connor clarified.

"Really?" Ginny said, smiling over at the other Red Ranger, Harry's near-automatic jealousy dying down when Ginny reached over to take his hand with a warm smile. "That kind of reminds me of what Harry did a couple of years ago."

"Huh?" Connor asked, looking curiously at Harry. "What did you do?"

"Long story short, our government was trying to deny that Voldemort had come back by forcing us to accept a near-useless Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher so that they could 'control' any potentially dangerous magic we might learn, so Harry was convinced to start a class teaching us how to defend ourselves himself," Ginny said, smiling at Harry as she leaned over to give him a brief kiss before she continued her story. "It was his first time teaching, but everyone who participated got at least an E in our exams that year-"

"'E'?" Kira asked.

"'Exceeds Expectations'," Harry clarified. "The only grade higher is 'Outstanding', and after that 'Acceptable' is the minimum pass mark; everything lower than that and you're in trouble at best."

"Hello," another voice said, prompting them to halt their current conversation as they glanced up to see a young man, approximately their age, with blonde hair, wearing a brown leather jacket over a red T-shirt and blue jeans, carrying a tray with their various orders on it. "I have your orders here. I have a Double Cheeseburger without onions-"

"Right here," Connor said, prompting a look from Kira as she took it.

"Honestly, Connor," she said, rolling her eyes. "Where do you store it all?"

"A taco salad," the waiter said, cutting off Kira's interest in an answer from Connor.

"That's mine!" she said, smiling as she received the food. "Thanks."

"OK, one fish and chips?" the waiter asked, glancing at the order sheet.

"That's mine," Ginny said, smiling at the waiter as he handed her the plate, only to suddenly drop the tray as he stared at her directly for the first time since reaching the table, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at her.

"Ginny?" he said, his voice incredulous as he stared at the red-headed girl.

"Uh... sorry, but who-?" Harry began, trying not to look as confused by this turn of events as he felt- in all their attempts to plan for the possibility that someone would recognise Jason or Tommy, they'd never anticipated that someone might recognise _them_-, his confusion only becoming stronger when the new arrival turned to look at Harry and his jaw dropped incredulously as he stared at the Hogwarts Guardian Red Ranger.

_Why do I have a feeling that things just became even _more _complicated_? Harry asked himself grimly.

* * *

AN 2: If you've read 'Patronus Force', you should know who's just encountered Harry and the others; if not, his name will be revealed in the next chapter.


	36. Meet Alan Black

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Another, more collaborative chapter as the Hogwarts Guardians work with the Patronus Force, and some questions are answered; hope you like it

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"Harry, Ginny-," the other boy said, his voice betraying his mixture of surprise and relief as he sat down in an empty chair at their table, "where in the hell have you guys been? We've been looking _everywhere _for you guys! Where's Ron, Fred, and Hermione? Are they with you?"

Exchanging curious looks with his friends, Harry was relieved to note that the other Rangers were already tensed in case things took a turn for the worse; they might not understand what was happening here, but at least they were ready if things turned ugly on them.

"Um..." Harry said, looking awkwardly at the other boy, hoping that a direct approach might provide them with what they were after, "I'm sorry, but... who are you?"

"I'm Alan." the other boy said after a moment's pause, evidently waiting for Harry to explain why he'd made such a (From his perspective) bizarre statement. "_Alan Black. _You know; the guy who's been dating your sister since Sixth Year?"

Harry's instinctive glance over at Ginny was at least enough to assure him that she was just as shocked at this latest news as he was; the idea of them being known in Angel Grove at the age they were in their time was confusing enough, but the news that he had a _sister _in this reality was so far outside anything he'd been expecting to hear that he didn't know how to respond to it.

"Is... is something wrong?" Alan asked, looking uncertainly between Harry and Ginny as he registered the obvious confusion on their faces. "I mean- what happened to you?" he continued, his gaze fixed on Harry's scar.

"Huh?" Harry said, his attention suddenly drawn to this new reaction to his scar; people being surprised and looking at it when they first realised who he was had become almost expected over the years, but Alan's complete ignorance of it was something else.

"Harry's... well, we're not sure what happened to him recently; it's all been a bit... confusing," Kira said, noting the confusion of her new friends and deciding to try a straightforward bluff and hope for the best. "We've established some obvious details like his name and his time at Hogwarts, but-"

"You know about Hogwarts?" Alan said, looking sharply over at Connor and Kira, his eyes flickering over them as though he'd only just realised that he didn't know them. "But-"

"Connor and Kira helped us out after... whatever happened..., and we ended up telling them a few things before we remembered why we shouldn't normally do that," Ginny said, crossing her fingers under the table as she looked urgently at Alan; if he didn't accept their initial explanation for why they'd violated the Statue of Secrecy and told muggles about magic, things were going to get complicated. "I know it's... unorthodox... but trust us; you can trust them."

For a long moment, Alan sat and stared silently at the two Dino Thunder Rangers, until he seemed to come to a decision as he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small crystal ball, holding it up as he looked directly at the other two Rangers.

"As much as I really want to believe that you're as trustworthy as Ginny says you are," Alan said (Ginny and Harry could only exchange brief glances at that; it was slightly weird having someone they'd never met have this much faith in them), "I have to make sure. This crystal is enchanted to act in the manner of a lie detector, except you can't fool it."

With that statement, Alan placed on the table between Connor and Kira, looking solemnly between them as he continued speaking. "Here's what we're going to do. I need you both to each place a hand on the crystal and I want you to look me in the eye when you answer the question I'm about to ask of you. But if you lie... that crystal's going to make you regret doing so."

Even as Harry and Ginny exchanged worried glances- the possibility of Alan asking questions they couldn't answer without giving away their _real _history wasn't entirely encouraging-, Connor and Kira had already placed their hands on the crystal, Alan leaning over to stare them both directly in the eye.

"Do you, Connor... and you, Kira... solemnly swear that you can be entrusted with the secrets of the magical world... _never _to betray us as long as you both shall live?" he said

"I swear," Connor replied, his gaze steady as he looked back at Alan.

"Absolutely," Kira confirmed. Alan stared back at them for a few moments, and then nodded and took back the crystal.

"I'm convinced," he said casually.

"Just out of curiosity," Kira asked, indicating the ball in Alan's hand, "what would that thing have done to us if we _had _been lying?"

"This?" Alan said, grinning casually as he held up the ball. "It wouldn't have done anything to you; it's just a crystal paperweight I bought my mom for Christmas on my way over here."

"You made us swear... on a _paperweight_?" Connor said, his tone incredulous as Kira tried to restrain the urge to giggle. "Dude... that is just so _uncool_!"

"Maybe," Alan said dismissively. "I just wanted you to look me in the eye when you voiced your answers; the paperweight was just a reinforcement tool."

"So..." Harry asked, smiling hopefully at Alan- if they were going to learn more about this world, working out where their other selves were might be a step in the right direction-, "as long as we're talking about lost memories... when did we... vanish?"

"It's been almost five months," Alan replied, sighing grimly at the memory as he looked at his two friends. "From what George said, you were in Hogsmeade looking at the new shop Fred and George had just bought and a bolt of lightning just took you away. For the longest time, we thought that Ze..um... Death Eaters had taken you."

For a moment, Harry wondered what Alan had been about to say- could their disappearance in this world have something to do with Lord Zedd?-, but then Alan continued talking. "Anyways, now that we've gotten the two of you back; did Hermione, Ron, and Fred get away as well?"

"We... we don't know," Ginny said, the brief glance she shared with Harry confirming that they were both thinking the same thing; they might not encounter this 'Alan' guy again, and it wouldn't help their apparently-missing counterparts if Alan was convinced to relax any attempt to search for them if he thought they'd already been found. "We don't even know what happened to us after... well, after that."

"We found them wandering around the city," Kira volunteered, clearly deciding to stick with their currently-impulsive story unless something else came up. "We thought it would be best if they stayed with us until their memories cleared up."

"Thank god that you did!" Alan told her "And I happen to know two red-haired women who will be _extremely _happy to have these two back; as a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Ginny's mom insists on feeding you enough food to feed an _army!_ And Aunt Lily-,"

"Aunt Lily?" Harry questioned suddenly, giving Alan his full attention.

"Yeah." Alan nodded, giving Harry a curious look "That's what my sister and I have always called your mom, seeing as how she helped our mother raise us."

"You... you mean she's _alive__?" Harry asked, all thoughts of trying to think about things from his counterpart's perspective forgotten with this new news. _"My mum, I mean?"

"The last time I checked," Alan replied, apparently ignorant of Harry's emotional shock as he sat in silence, barely even aware of Ginny holding his hand beside him.

_Alive_...

God, his mother was _alive _in this world.

He didn't what had changed to result in that particular twist on the history he knew- and the lack of reference to his dad at least suggested that he was still dead-, but a part of him almost didn't care; for the first time since he could remember, he was in a place where a parent was _alive_...

"If you don't mind my asking, Alan," Ginny asked after a long moment of silence, giving him a small smile to distract him from Harry's obvious shock, "how did an American like you end up in a magic school in Scotland?"

"That's a long story." Alan answered, his tone suggesting a desire to be helpful even if he was clearly somewhat confused by the question. "But in the interest of time, I suppose I could give an abridged version of my life's story. It all started when Voldemort attacked the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow."

That statement attracted Harry's attention more than anything else Alan could have said; the possibility of knowing how his mother had survived in this world was something he couldn't ignore.

"When Aunt Lily escaped with Harry here," Alan explained, nodding his head in Harry's direction as he spoke "Old Mold-In-His-Shorts-" Ginny and Connor both snorted in amusement at the nickname, and Harry noted that Kira was fighting the urge to smile herself, "flew into a rage that caused the house to collapse on him, and by the time he managed to dig himself out, he found over half the Order waiting for him and he was sent to Azkaban to serve a life sentence."

Harry didn't need to know the rest of the story to know that it hadn't ended there, but Alan paused for a moment to let them take it in before he continued. "But somehow, Voldemort was able to direct his Death Eaters from his cell and things got so bad, Dumbledore had to go to the International Confederation for help. My mother was part of the first group of Enforcers sent by the Department of Magical Justice; even though my biological father had been killed in action and she herself was seven months pregnant at the time."

"Wait!" Kira interrupted, looking with obvious outrage at Alan. "They sent a _pregnant _woman to fight some deranged dark wizard? How could they _do _something that stupid?"

"My mom was the Chief Liaison between the Order and the Department of Magical Justice." Alan explained, before smiling a wistful smile as he continued "That's how she met my stepfather- they married when my sister and I were two."

"It sounds like you and your sister are twins." Ginny noted, smiling encouragingly at him; he didn't seem to be questioning the scale of their amnesia so far, but if she seemed interested he might not ask too many questions about it.

"That's because we are," Alan explained, indicating the walls of the Surf Spot with a wave of his arms as he continued speaking. "When her due date came, mom decided that she wanted us to be born in her hometown; here in Angel Grove... and, since America allows students to practice magic outside of school, mom would bring us over every summer to put us through her own personal boot camp."

"What House were you in?" Ginny asked. "The way you act, I'd have to say Gryffindor!"

"Actually," Alan said with a slight smile, "the Sorting Hat _wanted _to put me in Gryffindor but I asked it to put me in Slytherin."

Harry wasn't sure how to react to that, and the fact that Ginny looked equally stunned was only slightly reassuring; the thought that someone had _chosen_ to be in that

"W...What?" he said at last, looking incredulously at the other boy. "_Why _would you want to be in _Slytherin__?"_

"I felt that I could do more good in Slytherin than in the other Houses," Alan said, shrugging slightly before he leaned forward as he explained his reasoning to them in a lower voice. "You see... I felt that if I tried to be a Light wizard in one of the other Houses, it wouldn't have had any _real _meaning. But in Slytherin, I discovered that most of the students in that House are actually a bunch of kids who had more reason to be afraid than the students of the other Houses. I mean... there _were _students who were the offspring of Death Eaters and that was what scared the other Slytherin students into obeying. Imagine if you were a Slytherin student who actually _despised _everything Voldemort stood for but felt that they couldn't voice their opinions for fear that a Death Eater's child might overhear them and tell their parents; who would- in turn- tell Voldemort. I thought that being a member of one the more prominent wizarding families, I could provide some encouragement; to show them that they didn't _have _to be afraid."

"I've never thought of that," Ginny said, her voice a thoughtful whisper.

"Well," Alan smiled at the red haired girl, "now you've-,"

Alan suddenly stopped talking as something beeped on his wrist, prompting him to glance down at his arm before he looked apologetically back at them. "I'm sorry; I was so overwhelmed by seeing you two again that I forgot that I had to drop by the high school to help with a weekend school project."

"Waitaminute!" Connor said, raising a hand as he looked at Alan. "You actually go to _high school?" _

"Yeah, I'm a Senior at Angel Grove High," Alan said, shrugging slightly casually before he glanced at his watch again. "Tell you what...you guys stay here and wait until I get back and I'll take you to the Potter's new house. While you're waiting, I'll tell Danielle to give you guys as much food and drink as you want. Trust me, I'll have her put it on my employee's tab."

"Wait," Ginny said, looking urgently at him as he began to stand up. "Just one more question; why are you attending a Muggle high school instead of Hogwarts?"

"Because," Alan replied, with a sigh that suggested he didn't like to think about what he was currently talking about, "Voldemort's cronies damaged the school pretty heavily when he launched an all-out assault on it. According to Dumbledore, it's going to take at least two years to repair the damage."

"And Voldemort?" Ginny asked, exchanging apprehensive glances with Harry out of the corner of their eyes; if Voldemort had done something like that in this reality without Rita's wand, what could he do to Hogwarts in their reality _with _that kind of power?"

"Snake-Face is dead. He got finished off by Dumbledore," Alan said, his expression grim before that same beeping sound was heard once again. "I really have to get going."

As Alan rushed to the door, Harry, Ginny, Connor and Kira could only sit and exchange glances with each other before Harry finally broke the silence.

"Did... did he really...?" he said at last, looking over at Ginny with an expression that looked like he was about to start crying.

"Say that your mum's alive?" Ginny finished for him, smiling tremulously at her boyfriend. "Yeah, he did."

"That's... not the case back home, I take it?" Kira asked, looking sympathetically at the other Red Ranger.

"No," Ginny said, shaking her head briefly as she looked at the other two Rangers. "In our world, Harry's mother... well, she sacrificed herself to save Harry from a curse when he was barely a year old."

"She died in our version of that 'Godric's Hollow' attack Alan mentioned; a friend of theirs betrayed them to Voldemort, and they were both killed before they could do anything to get away," Harry said, swallowing slightly tremulously at the thought of what might have happened in this reality to allow Lilly Potter to escape the fate that she had suffered in his.

God... she was _alive_...

"Uh... hate to sound cold, but... this doesn't change anything, does it?" Connor asked, looking awkwardly at his fellow Red Ranger. "I mean, I get that this is a big thing for you, but she's still not _your _mom; she's-"

"She's got her own Harry and my world still needs me and my friends back there; I _know_," Harry said, glaring briefly at Connor before he sighed and lowered his head. "Sorry... it's just that... well..."

"I know," Ginny said, smiling weakly at him as she reached over to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "If we could do anything else, we would, but we've got to focus on what's in front of us."

"Still," Kira said, smiling slightly at the other Ranger. "That's not to say you couldn't... visit her later, right?"

"But-" Harry began.

"I'm not saying you have to actually let her know you're there- probably best we minimise the amount of people who know that we're here in case they stop looking for the other yous-, but maybe you could... I dunno, disguise yourself and drop in for a quick visit or something?" Kira said, shrugging slightly uncertainly, only to be cut off as their earlier waitress came up to them, prompting the team to fall silent as they looked at her.

"Hi," she said, looking over at Harry and Ginny with a slight smile. "I'm Danielle; Alan told me that any more food you wanted should be put on his tab, and since you never got your food, I wondered if you'd just like to get you a second dish?"

"Uh... just the same as the last one would be fine," Harry said, after exchanging a brief glance with Ginny to confirm what they both wanted.

"By the way," Connor asked, looking curiously at the waitress as she made a note on her pad, "just out of curiosity- we've been a little out of touch with the guy; trying to work out where he's been since we last saw him, you know-, when did Alan start working here?"

"Oh, just a few months ago, really; he and his family moved here a little before the Patronus Force Rangers took the place of the originals, if that's any help," Danielle said, smiling politely at Connor.

"Took the place of the originals?" Kira repeated, looking curiously at the waitress, a slight edge to her voice that prompted an amused exchange of smiles between Harry and Ginny. "As in... the first team with the Pink and White Ranger vanished, and these guys took their place?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Danielle said, sighing slightly as she glanced upwards for a moment. "I mean, the Patronus Force do a great job, but... well, you get used to seeing familiar costumes saving the day, you know?"

As Danielle walked away, she was unaware of the private glances the four teens were sharing at this latest news.

Harry might want to double-check his latest theory with Hermione to see if she'd discovered anything that might contradict it, but it was looking like they _might _be able to find out who the Patronus Force were with relatively little effort...


	37. Facing the Tebo

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: The collaboration continues, as things get a _bit _more complicated as our teams meet face-to-face...

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"So," Jason said as the group sat around a table in the park a short while later, the various teams having finished their reconnaissance missions and met up here to discuss their findings in private, "what did everyone turn up?"

"Well, firstly, the addresses you gave us?" Ethan said, looking slightly apologetically at the two oldest members of the teams. "Far as we can tell, they're all a bust; your house doesn't look like you've been there for a while- and the addresses you gave us for Zack and Trini suggested that they've been away too; I'm guessing you still went to that conference thing Doctor O. told us about-, and while the rest of the addresses you gave us all seemed to be inhabited, there was no sign of anyone there who could be the relevant Rangers."

"Did you catch anything about where they might be?" Tommy asked, looking curiously over at Trent.

"Well, we checked in with the neighbours when we found the houses empty, and from what we heard, Rocky, Adam and Aisha were visiting a few old friends in Stone Canyon while Kimberly went to France, and there was something about your other self going to a... reservation for a visit?" Trent said, looking uncertainly at his mentor.

"Seems to fit what we'd do if we weren't Rangers at some point..." Tommy said, nodding thoughtfully before another thought occurred to him. "What about Billy?"

"The Blue Ranger?" Ethan said, shrugging uncertainly. "No idea, sorry; his dad said that he was off doing some kind of job, but he didn't say what and I didn't know how to press the point without giving away that I didn't really know him that well."

"OK, so tracking down the old guard was a bust; how about working out this world's history from a more removed angle?" Harry said, turning to look at Hermione and Sylvia. "How did the research angle go?"

"Well, from what I remember- keep in mind that I didn't really read much in the way of newspapers back when the original teams were active, but I watched enough of the news about the Rangers to get a general idea of what they were doing-, it looks like the first three years of modern Ranger activity were the same as they were back home," Sylvia explained. "You know, we started out with the Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink and Black Rangers, then the Green Ranger appeared, disappeared for a time, appeared again, disappeared again, and then the White Ranger showed up after the others got new Zords, then those Ninjazords showed up, followed by the Shogunzords..."

"And that's where things diverge, as far as we can tell; from what we read, monster attacks stopped happening about three years ago, your team vanished after they gave some kind of press conference announcing that the threat was over- for the moment, anyway-, and then, a few months ago, monsters started appearing again and the Patronus Force took over," Hermione said, taking up her teammate's story. "However, unless things have changed _really _drastically I don't think the answer to their presence could be that you suddenly acquired the ability to use magic; the fact that your original teammates aren't here right now would suggest that something happened to drain some of your power sources of their energy, and the Patronus Force took over in your absence."

"Makes... sense..." Tommy said, nodding thoughtfully as he and Jason exchanged glances. "I mean, I don't like to think of Zordon as just kicking us out if we lost our powers, but maybe he felt like he had to give the duty to someone else after something... happened to us... and it wouldn't be _impossible _to assume that Zedd might have decided to step back for a bit; maybe he thought he'd catch us off-guard if he stopped attacking regularly..."

"But what could have happened to you that meant they had to recruit a new team?" Ron asked, looking curiously at the older man.

"No idea," Tommy said, shaking his head as he looked apologetically over at the Yellow Ranger. "This might be a Ranger thing, but it's not exactly something I experienced myself; we're all pretty much flying blind here."

"Actually, we might have some additional theories about what happened," Kira said, looking over at Harry and Ginny for permission to speak before she continued after receiving a nod of confirmation. "While we were at the Surf Spot, we ran into this guy, Alan Black, who... well, he's a wizard who knew Harry and Ginny's other selves."

"He did?" Jason asked, looking curiously at Kira.

"He knew them?" Hermione said, looking apprehensively at Kira. "What happened when he realised that... well, that they weren't them?"

"He didn't," Kira said, shaking her head grimly. "That's one of the problems with this situation; apparently, in this world, your counterparts- all four of you and some guy Alan called Fred- have been missing for months."

"_Fred's _missing?" Ron said, his eyes wide in shock.

"You know him?" Sylvia asked, looking curiously over at her teammate (Harry made a mental note to talk with her about their pasts when they had the time to spare; they'd been so busy focusing on making sure she knew what they were up against they hadn't spared the time to make sure she knew what they were fighting for).

"He's my- our brother," Ron said, remembering that Ginny was still present as he continued to speak. "Actually, he's one of the twins; George and he do pretty much everything together."

"Except vanish, apparently," Ginny said, taking up the story. "From what Alan told us, our counterparts vanished from Diagon Alley in a blast of lightning some months ago; we had to claim that we didn't remember what had happened to us after that to avoid attracting any awkward questions."

"And that's _before _you factor in what he had to tell us about this world's history," Harry added, looking grimly over at Ron and Hermione. "Apparently, not only do I have a sister in this world, but..."

He paused for a moment, his fists tightening as though he couldn't quite believe what he was about to say, before he finally spat it out. "My Mum's alive."

"Your _Mum_?" Ron said, looking at Harry in shock.

"Oh my God..." Hermione said, her own eyes widening in sympathy as she realised the implications of how Harry must feel after that discovery. "She... she's _alive_?"

"And I can't even go and see her because I can't be sure she'd understand that I'm not the me she knows and I don't want her to give up on looking for him..." Harry said, sighing in frustration as he stared grimly down at the table in front of him, his stare so intense that it almost seemed like it would burn through the table if he stared at it much harder.

"It's one of those situations being a hero never prepares you for, huh?" Connor said, reaching over to pat Harry sympathetically on the shoulder before he looked more firmly over at the two oldest Rangers present. "Actually, that kind of ties in to our other theory; it might be barking up the wrong tree, but according to one of the waitresses at the cafe, the guy we spoke to- some guy about our age called Alan Black- came to Angel Grove around the same time as the Patronus Force first started out, and we _know _that he's a wizard who came here with a few friends..."

"Hold on; are you saying that you think this 'Alan Black' is one of the Patronus Force?" Hermione asked, looking sharply at Connor.

"Well, Harry came up with the theory, but it does make a certain sense," Kira added. "He did mention that his mother was one of the 'Enforcers' sent to help put down that 'Voldemort' guy in this world after his attack on Harry failed- over here, anyway-, so we know he's probably got some kind of combat training in his background, the timing for his arrival and theirs seems to make sense, and he's about the age that you said Zordon looked for when picking his Rangers..."

"It's just a theory, I know, but it's all we've got right now; if you've got a better idea, I'd like to hear it," Harry said, looking around at his friends in case they had any alternatives to offer, before he sighed and shrugged in frustration. "Maybe I shouldn't have just left like that..."

"No, you made the right call not accepting the invitation back to... well, can we call it _your _house when it's an _alternative _version of you that lives there?" Ginny asked, looking uncertainly at Hermione as though seeking clarification of her term choice before she looked back at Harry. "The point is, you couldn't have gone there and given... _that _Lilly Potter the hope that she'd got her Harry back; it would have just been..."

"Harsh, at least," Ethan suggested.

Harry had just opened his mouth to reply to the Blue Dino Thunder Ranger's comment when a sudden flash filled the sky, fading away to reveal what looked to Harry and the other magical Guardians like an elaborate shield charm above them stretching out into the distance before apparently meeting the ground at some more distant point.

"What the-?" Connor said, standing up sharply to look at the shield that now surrounded their immediately visible area.

"Something to do with the Patronus Force?" Harry said, looking over at the rest of his team as the other people in the park stood up and glanced around themselves in confusion, clearly trying to work out what had just happened.

"If it's not, then it's to do with us; no villain in Ranger history has ever tried to attack civilians just for the sake of it," Tommy said grimly, glancing around the area before he indicated a nearby cluster of trees. "Come on; we should be able to morph there before we try to find out what's going on here."

Nodding in agreement, Harry and his friends hurried over to the wood-concealed area, the Rangers morphing as quickly as possible before Hermione raised her gem in front of her.

"Wha-?" Trent began.

"Just give me a moment..." Hermione said, holding up one hand to halt his question as she held out her gem on the end of her wrist, before she finally nodded as she held it in one particular direction and it began to rapidly pulse with power. "OK, there's definitely something over in that direction; come on!"

Running in the direction that Hermione had indicated, the Rangers moved as quickly as possible, sticking to the trees to avoid being noticed by any surrounding civilians, until they finally reached their destination, in the form of a more open part of the park, currently vacant of all but three easily-identifiable figures.

Standing over two figures who had to be the Red and White Patronus Force Rangers- dressed in costumes in their colours with a white diamond on the Red Ranger's chest while the White Ranger had a pink one, wearing helmets with a wolf and hare motif respectively, their holsters holding what had to be their wands- was a large monster that resembled an ash-coloured warthog wearing black and silver armour, with massive muscular arms and silver wristbands, as well as two jagged tusks growing from its lower jaw.

"What is _that_?" Ethan asked, looking over at his Dino Thunder counterpart in shock.

"I'm not-" Hermione began.

"I TOLD YOU!" the creature roared at the currently-downed Red Ranger, its voice so loud that it interrupted whatever Hermione might have been about to say next despite its distance from them, "I DO NOT KNOW ANY LORD ZEDD! MY MASTER IS LORD VOLDEMORT!"

Glancing back at his teammates, Harry was relieved to see that the other Hogwarts Guardians had come to the same conclusion as him; if this creature didn't know Zedd but served Voldemort, than it must have come from their reality, most likely around the time that Harry had experienced that scar-related headache last night (If that hadn't been him trying to 'reach' Voldemort on some level when their enemy opened that portal to send this thing through, he'd be_ very _surprised).

"We're getting involved?" Ron asked, his tone making it clear that the question was rhetorical.

"We're getting involved," Harry confirmed, drawing his Guardian Blade and aiming it at the monster, the others Rangers drawing their own weapons as they opened fire at the powerful-looking creature, knocking it into the air just as the creature was about to strike at the two Rangers again.

"If Voldemort is your master," Harry said, hoping that he sounded more confident than he felt- he might be the 'leader' by merit of being the Red Ranger, but taking charge in this situation wasn't the same as coordinating his team- as he and the other Rangers stepped forward, their gaze fixed on the monster before them, "this fight has now become _ours_."

"So _you're _the Rangers that have caused my master so much trouble?" the creature said, its eyes narrowing as it got back to its feet and glared at the two newly-arrived teams.

"We are," Harry replied, walking over to stand beside the two fallen Rangers to give them time to recuperate, the rest of his team following his example as he indicated them. "_We _are the Hogwarts Guardian Power Rangers and _these _are the Dino Thunder Power Rangers."

"It doesn't matter _who _you are!" the monster snarled back at Harry, fists clenching as it stared at him. "I will destroy each and every one of you as it has been decreed by my master."

"I hate to break it to you," Tommy said, the longest-running Ranger speaking with the casual manner that only experience could provide, "but we've faced down tougher opponents than you."

Harry had to admit, given what Jason had told them about his and Tommy's Ranger career, that was probably true; no matter how tough this thing was, it couldn't go up against _thirteen _Rangers all at once.

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you," the Red Patronus Force Ranger said, sounding slightly apprehensive as he kept his gaze on the monster. "I have a feeling that I know what kind of creature we're dealing with."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense!" Ron said, Hermione nodding in agreement at the Yellow Ranger's statement.

"If this guy's telling the truth that he was somehow created by Voldemort- which I'm _still _not understanding _how__,_with him being dead- I'm guessing that this freak was based on the Tebo," the Red Patronus Ranger explained.

"A Tebo?" Sylvia asked, looking over at her new teammates in confusion. "What the heck is that?"

"It's a sort of magical warthog found in Africa," Hermione answered, the apprehension in her body language obvious to Harry after his long experience with the girl who was practically his sister in every way but blood. "They have the ability to become invisible, which makes them all the more dangerous since the Tebo's abilities makes it almost impossible to evade or capture!"

"And in addition to his tough hide," the Red Patronus Force Ranger added, "this guy's tusks pack a lot of firepower!"

"ENOUGH TALKING!" the monster roared, shifting back into a combat stance. "_PREPARE TO MEET YOUR - WHAT_?"

Glancing off to the side, it didn't take long to realise what had attracted the monster's attention; massive bolts of purple lightning hurtled towards the ground, striking it with such force that the resulting explosion knocked the Rangers off their feet and into a mass of tangled limbs, Harry quickly scrambling back to his feet when he realised that the explosion had caused his hand to land on Kira in a potentially uncomfortable manner. Looking at the area where the explosion had just taken place, the smoke cleared to reveal a large group of humanoid creatures with rope-like hair and a deep purple in colour, the new arrivals numbering at least twenty.

"What the heck are _those _things?" Jason asked, looking over at the Red Patronus Force Ranger after a brief glance at Tommy had confirmed that he didn't recognise them either.

"I've never seen _them _before," the other Ranger replied, dashing any hopes they might have harboured of finding a quick solution. "Usually, Zedd sends Putties or Tengas after us-"

"Look!" Kira yelled, glancing in another direction before their new ally could continue. "Something's happening to the monster!"

Turning to face the Tebo-thing, Harry's eyes widened in shock as the monster's entire appearance seemed to distort and twist, its body becoming far more muscular while its armour became suddenly thicker, spikes now covering its shoulders and wristbands. With a loud roar, the Tebo-thing raised its arms and two massive dual-edged swords appeared in its hands, the creature jabbing one of the swords in the direction of the assembled Rangers as it glared at the mysterious new foot soldiers.

"WELL?" the creature roared. "GO GET THEM!"

With that order, the foot soldiers charged towards the Rangers, the Red and White Patronus Force Rangers getting to their feet in time to join Harry's pre-existing 'group' of Rangers.

"All right, Rangers," the Red Patronus Force Ranger said- and Harry _knew _he recognised that voice; it looked like his theory might not be as outlandish as they'd thought-, "let's POWER UP!"

Under normal circumstances, when faced with a monster that was here to kill them, Harry might have objected to having someone else take charge of the situation, but right now, faced with enemies that he didn't recognise in a world that wasn't his own- the Tebo-thing might have come from Voldemort but these guys definitely weren't-, he'd take what assistance he could get without complaining.

In a matter of moments, they were in the thick of the action, the purple creatures' attempts to attack them being deflected and parried as the Hogwarts Guardians and Patronus Force Rangers drew their blades, leaving the Dino Thunder Rangers to lash out with their own individualised weapons as the fight progressed. For the first few moments, the fight consisted primarily of desperate attempts to deflect the creatures' blows while launching their own- the things seemed to be made of some kind of slime-like substance that absorbed most physical blows released against it-, but then Ron and Hermione lashed out with a couple of quick Blasting Hexes that all-but-disintegrated the monsters they were facing into puddles of what Harry could only describe to himself as 'ooze', and the focus changed from physical combat to spellwork. With Tommy taking point with the energy orbs he could release from his own Brachio Staff, along with the magical Guardians' spells and the blasters of the Dino Thunder Rangers, the surrounding 'ooze-men' were swiftly eliminated, until the Tebo-thing was the only creature left standing, having been apparently waiting off to the side for the main battle to finish.

"It looks like your friends weren't all that tough," Jason noted as the various Rangers gathered around their enemy, the White Ranger not even bothering to hide the contempt from his voice; after so long working at a team, he hated when he had to face enemies who let others do their fighting for them.

"It is of no consequence," the Tebo-thing said, snorting dismissively as it raised the two swords in its hands. "It _still _remains your destiny to die today!"

Tensed and prepared for a physical attack, none of the Rangers could have anticipated the fireballs that suddenly burst from each sword, one fireball striking the White Patronus Force Ranger with such force that she was sent to her knees with a scream of agony, her suit vanishing to reveal a distinctively pale-haired form before she fell to the ground.

"_LUNA_!" the Red Patronus Force Ranger yelled in terror, charging forward to look at his teammate as the other Rangers charged forward (Harry noted that Ron, Hermione and Ginny were at least as shocked to learn the White Patronus Force Ranger's identity as he was- the idea of Luna Lovegood as a Ranger _was _an unexpected twist-, but they didn't have time to focus on that right now), only for the Tebo-thing to swiftly demonstrate a speed and strength that none of them could have expected. With its two swords creating a near-impenetrable 'vortex' of destruction around it, it moved with a speed that none of them could have anticipated, blocking and countering their attempts to attack it with such speed that their numbers were the only thing that prevented it from landing a successful blow on any of them, each of them helping the others avoid being struck by the worst of their opponent's blows-

"NO!" a voice suddenly roared, prompting even the Tebo-thing to stop fighting for a moment as the combatants turned to stare at the source of the cry; the Red Patronus Force Ranger, glaring resolutely at the monster before him.

"You won't hurt _anyone AGAIN_," the as-yet-not-specifically-identified Red Ranger said, staring with cold fury at the monster even with his face concealed by his helmet. Before any of the other Rangers could say anything, the Red Patronus Force Ranger flicked his left wrist and a strange red-and-gold gauntlet appeared on the wrist, the Ranger subsequently drawing his wand and touching it against the gauntlet. "Werewolf Battle Armour- _Power Up_!"

With that command, the gauntlet released a burst of white light that engulfed his body, accompanied by a savage howl that reminded Harry, Ron and Hermione of that dark night when they'd first met Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, fading away to reveal that the Red Ranger was now wearing a golden 'vest' of armour around his torso and shoulders, gold wristbands and kneepads covering his joints and a more feral design to his helmet.

"Whoa!" Ron said, smiling in approval at their ally's new attire.

"Werewolf Battle Staff!" the new Ranger yelled, raising his wand above his head as it transformed into a four-foot long staff with a large golden blade, which he aimed resolutely at the monster.

"Keep an eye on her," he said, indicating Luna with a jerk of his head as he looked over at the other Rangers. "I've got a monster to deal with."

"This is _our _problem-" Harry began.

"And I'm going into action with an untested weapon; you're not going to get hurt because I didn't know what I was doing before I get some answers out of you," the Red Patronus Force Ranger said, his tone allowing for no argument as he turned his attention back to the Tebo-thing. "Anyone up for some pork chops?"

"That armour's not going to help you, Ranger," the Tebo-thing chuckled. "Soon, you and your comrades shall be disposed of and my master will be free to take the world that is his to rule!"

"We'll see about that," the now-armoured Ranger said, lunging at the monster with such force that the Battle Staff's blade sliced the Tebo-thing's weapons in half even as the other Rangers dived out of the way.

"Battle Staff!" the Red Patronus Force Ranger yelled, stepping back as he raised his weapon. "Full Power!"

Before the Tebo-thing could do anything to try and fight back, the armoured Red Ranger had slashed at him with the Battle Staff's blade- the weapon in question glowing with silver energy-, its wielder shifting into a kneeling stance as the Tebo-thing collapsed to the ground behind him, exploding into nothingness.

Glancing back at the other Rangers, Harry was grateful to note that nobody else appeared to be harmed- this world's Luna appeared to still be unconscious, but judging by Hermione's relaxed body language she would make a full recovery sooner rather than later-, but his attention was drawn back to the Red Patronus Force Ranger as he walked towards them, now returned to his usual suit as he stared firmly at them.

"I believe that you have some explaining to do," he said firmly. "Just who are you, anyway?"

"Bit of a hard case, isn't he?" Ron muttered to Hermione. "I mean, just because _he _defeated that thing-"

"We're anomalies in _his _world, Ron; you'd probably react the same way if things were the other way around and his team appeared in _our _reality," Hermione hissed in response, delivering a firm slap to Ron's helmet before she glanced over at Harry. "Look, I know we only have theories, but given that he just helped us defeat that thing, and Luna _was _rather seriously hurt by it- she'll be all right, but that was mainly because I got to her immediately-, I think it's safe to say that they're on our side; maybe we should just... take advantage of the opportunity and talk to them now?"

After exchanging brief glances with Jason and Tommy, only to be met with no sign of objection to his old friend's suggestion, Harry nodded at Hermione to take up the current explanation; if they were right about this Red Ranger's identity, he doubted his ability to remain totally in control given what he'd learned in their previous conversations. Nodding in understanding, Hermione walked forward to face the other Ranger more directly, pausing for a moment before she finally spoke.

"Alan Black?" she said, looking pointedly at the Red Patronus Force Ranger, her manner making it clear that it was a statement more than a guess.

"Huh?" the now-clearly-identified-as-Alan Red Ranger said, looking at Hermione in shock.

"Look," Hermione said, raising her hands in a placating gesture, "I know it's a shock, and the truth is going to be very complicated, but we're _not _your enemies, I promise; we just... well, we need to talk to you."

For a moment, as her request was met with nothing but silence, Hermione wondered if she'd made the wrong decision, but then Alan nodded grimly and powered down, revealing the same figure that Harry and his 'team' had met during their earlier search.

"I think that you've got some explaining to do," Alan said, fixing Hermione with a firm glare. "Between some monster claiming to have been sent by Voldemort and one of my friends being hurt by said monster, you can safely assume that I'm low on patience at the moment."

"Well, firstly, Luna's going to be all right; she might need a quick check-over, but it's nothing too serious," Hermione said, deciding to tackle the obvious concern of any leader first, allowing Alan time to process that statement before she continued. "As to who we are, _that's _a little... complicated..."

"You're from some kind of parallel Earth," Alan said simply.

"Huh?" Ron asked, looking at Alan in surprise. "How-?"

"Our Command Center's energy scanners were able to get some good readings on the portal that brought you here," Alan explained. "We've been searching the city for you in case you could tell us anything else, but... well, obviously the searching's not necessary right now."

"Well, you're right in that we're from a parallel Earth to your own," Hermione replied, nodding briefly at Alan. "And... well, some of the people who exist here on your world also exist on ours."

After a brief pause to consider the best way to say what she was about to say, Hermione nodded in resolution and continued. "I understand that the Hermione Granger of your world is missing?"

"She is," Alan replied with a brief blink of surprise. "Why do you ask?"

"You already know that we're from a parallel world," Hermione answered, giving him a moment to be sure that he'd processed what she said before she spoke again. "_Ravenclaw Guardian- Power Down_!"

With that, Hermione's suit vanished, leaving her standing before a clearly stunned Alan, smiling awkwardly at him.

"Hello," she said, nodding briefly at him. "I know that this is going to be complicated, but... we need your help."


	38. The Familiar Faces of Strangers

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: One of our more collaborative chapters as the two teams interact and learn more about the others' histories; hope you like it

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

A short while later, the various Rangers, now demorphed and back in their civilian appearances, sat around a couple of park tables as they revealed the circumstances of their arrival in this world to Alan Black and the now-conscious Luna Lovegood (Who, to her credit, had been relatively unphased by this new discovery; clearly, regardless of her world of origin, Luna was always one to accept things fairly quickly so long as the people in question deserved her acceptance). Alan had obviously been disappointed to learn that the Harry and Ginny he'd spoken to earlier weren't _his _Harry and Ginny, but he otherwise seemed to be willing to listen to their explanation for their presence in this reality.

"That's some story you have," Alan told them as they finished explaining their version of events to him, looking uncertainly between the new Rangers. "But... why didn't you stick around after Zedd took your Megazord? Why did you just take off like that?"

"We'd just landed in a strange world, had lost our original zords, and had no idea where we were, what had happened to us, or who you were; under the circumstances, a tactical retreat to work out what to do next seemed like the most sensible thing to do," Ron clarified, shrugging slightly as Alan looked at him. "Look, I know we probably offended you or something, but what would you have done in our position; we didn't even know what had happened to us at first, and we wanted some time to regroup before we started talking to anyone."

After sitting in silent thought for a moment, Alan nodded in acknowledgement of their point.

"I guess that if I was somehow transported to your world in the same manner that you were transported here, I suppose that I would probably react the same way," he said at last. "I mean- I've only been a Ranger for only a few months and been through quite a few hard fights and your presence here only makes me realize just how much I _don't _know about space magic!"

"How _did _you end up becoming a Power Ranger, Alan?" Hermione asked suddenly. "What I mean to say is, we've pretty much worked out where our separate histories match and then break off, but there's so many questions that we have!"

"You're just like our Hermione..." Alan said, smiling wistfully at her for a moment before he assumed a more professional manner once again. "But I think that it would be better to hold off the questions until we find a way out of this park. After that, you can ask all of the questions to your heart's content."

Just as Alan finished speaking, the six-toned musical chime of his communicator sounded, causing the White Guardian Ranger to sigh wistfully.

"Now _that's _a sound that brings back memories," Jason said, looking at Alan's wrist with a brief, contemplative smile.

"Never thought that I'd be glad to hear this thing go off," Alan commented, before he turned his attention back to his communicator. "I hope you have good news."

"Alan, we have discovered a way to bring down the barrier around the park," the distinctive voice of Zordon said over the communicators, Jason and Tommy visibly starting for a moment before they looked at each other with an apprehensive wistfulness that none of their teammates could have missed. "_You must bring it down from the inside, but we will soon have a temporary passage available to teleport the necessary devices to you. Please stand by while we prepare the teleportation systems__."_

"Awkward, huh?" Connor said, looking sympathetically at his old teacher as Zordon terminated the conversation at the other end.

"It's... not something I ever expected to be dealing with, anyway," Tommy admitted, nodding at Connor in acknowledgement of his point.

"Huh?" Alan said, looking at Tommy in confusion. "I thought you said that you knew Zordon-"

"It's... been a while since I heard from him; let's just leave it at that," Tommy said, waving an awkward hand at Alan to try and dismiss his question.

It might have ended most of the evil active in their world at the time, but the last thing either or Jason wanted to do was discuss the Countdown to Destruction; the knowledge that it had resulted in their mentor's death almost outweighed all the good that he had done with his last sacrifice, leaving all those Rangers who had been selected by him grieving its conclusion even if they recognised that it had had to be done.

Further reflection on their past was cut short by the sudden arrival of another man, apparently between the two veteran Rangers and their younger teammates in age, with short fair hair dressed in a blue shirt and jeans, various equipment gathered around him.

"_Billy_?" Jason and Tommy said, their eyes widening as they looked with surprised smiles at their old friend.

"_Far out_!" Ethan said, grinning at the new arrival with an expression of near-hero-worship on his face. "It's the _first Blue_!"

"Tommy?" Billy Cranston said, looking in surprise at the other two Rangers. "Jason? What _happened_ to you; you look... well-?"

"You can say it, man; we look old," Tommy said, patting Billy reassuringly on the shoulder. "Trust us, we know; it's a complicated story no matter what perspective you've got on this mess."

"As interesting as your story might be, I think we should hold off _until _we're out of here!" Alan said, looking pointedly at Tommy before he turned his attention to Billy. "How do we get out of here? Luna took a pretty bad hit and she needs to be looked at."

"We need to set these Polarity De-stabilizers at four different points inside the park," Billy explained, indicating one of the devices he was carrying. "Once they're activated, they should bring the barrier down permanently. It'll take two people to activate them so we'll need to select four two-man teams."

"I'm in!" Alan announced, standing up.

"I'll go with Alan," Tommy said, nodding as he stood up, the rest of his expanded team 'defaulting' to his authority. "Hermione, you see what you can do for Luna; Connor, you and Kira can handle one of the De-Stabilisers while Harry and Ginny sort out the other."

"And I'll sort out the fourth one with Jason," Billy said, nodding in confirmation at Tommy as he handed out the other three devices while keeping a fourth for himself as he indicated a few key switches. "Once you get them in place, you both will have to press the polarity switches on both sides of the De-Stabilisers at the _exact _same time."

"Simple enough," Connor said, nodding at the original Blue Ranger as he took the offered De-Stabiliser, the other teams doing the same as Billy gave them each a quick briefing on how the devices worked.

"All right," Billy said, concluding his explanation and looking around at the others. "Alan, you need to set up near the Sentinel Statue; Harry, you place yours on the north side of the lake; Connor, you have to set up in the direct centre of the southern playground. Jason and I will head east to the Children's theatre."

"Let's get going," Alan said, looking over at the other Rangers. "The sooner we get you guys to the Command Center, the sooner we can start deciding where we go from here. Luna, you going to be OK?"

"I'll be all right," the girl that the Hogwarts Guardians couldn't help but consider 'alt-Luna' said, smiling at her teammate as she indicated the Rangers who would be remaining with a wave of her hand. "I believe that I'm in good hands."

Nodding briefly in response, Alan turned and walked off with Tommy, the other Rangers heading towards their own assigned destinations after Billy had indicated the relevant directions.

"He... certainly cares about you," Hermione said, sitting down beside Luna as she looked slightly awkwardly at the younger girl; she might like Luna in her reality, but it wasn't like they were that close, and this Luna didn't even know _her_...

"Alan and the others have always looked out for me," Luna said, giving Hermione a reassuring smile. "It's like we've become a family of sorts. And ever since we've become Power Rangers, we've become part of a much larger family."

"Since we have nothing better to do right now, how did you end up in the Ranger game?" Sylvia asked, looking curiously at the other girl.

"I'm sure I'll be able to explain that in detail," Luna said, frowning thoughtfully as she pushed her hair back over her shoulder. "The basic explanation that I can give would be that the team before us had been trapped inside a sort of prison dimension and therefore, Zordon was forced to form an emergency team and since we had just arrived in Angel Grove, you can say that the Morphing Grid chose us to become Rangers."

"But... _why _did you come here in the first place?" Ron asked, looking in confusion at Luna. "Why'd you all leave Britain?"

"Well..." Luna said thoughtfully, "after the Dark Lord was defeated, some of his Death Eaters managed to escape and Dumbledore thought that they would go after the Black, Potter, and Weasley families, and since Alan's mother came from this city; it was decided that we would all come here in groups."

Hermione nodded in understanding as Luna gazed around the park, taking in the skyline with a slightly wistful smile.

"It's been a blessing living here," she said at last. "A blessing being able to live as the Muggles do and being able to witness how very much Muggles and wizards are alike. They really and truly are wonderful and it's amazing how inventive and creative they are."

With that said, Luna assumed a more sombre expression that Ron and Hermione were unused to seeing on her face as she continued. "True, we've seen how hateful and cruel some of them can be but that's the way some are. But as long as there are those who choose to care... that's the important thing."

Hermione had to admit, for a girl who'd been termed as 'Loony' back at school, Luna could make some _very _interesting points when she was dealing with people who chose to listen to her.

"About Alan..." she added, deciding that now would be the best time to ask about this particular topic before someone else brought it up in a less appropriate setting, "I can't but think about how his surname just happens to be Black..."

"That's because Sirius Black was his stepfather," Luna clarified. "When Alan's mother remarried, Sirius gave Alan and Amanda his last name since their birth father died before they were born- kind of like Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth?" Ron asked; he thought he remembered Harry mentioning someone with that name, but he wanted to be sure.

"Elizabeth Potter," Luna clarified. "She was born after Professor Potter escaped from Voldemort."

"How _did_ Lily Potter escape V... Voldemort?" Ron asked (He wasn't entirely comfortable with saying it, but given that he was on the team dedicated to defeating the guy he couldn't exactly keep on not saying the name). "We just... well, we know how she died in our world, but I can't figure out what could have happened to let her survive in this one."

"I don't know _all _of the details..." Luna said at last, after a few moments where she was lost in thought, "but from what Elizabeth had told me, Mr. Pettigrew had a change of heart and sent an owl warning the Potters that the Dark Lord was coming for them, and Mr Potter had just gotten Professor Potter and Harry out of the house just as Voldemort arrived."

"And what happened to that bas- Pettigrew?" Ron asked, trying not to think of the betrayal that his former pet had delivered to his best friend before they ever knew each other back in his world; apparently, the guy hadn't been _that _bad here, and judging _this _him for something the _other _him did wouldn't be exactly fair...

...God, he'd be glad when they were home; this other-reality stuff was making his head hurt.

"He fell victim to a Dementor while aiding some First Years in escaping from the castle," Luna replied. "Apparently he was taken in by Dumbledore after he surrendered to the Aurors for his role in the attack on the Potters; it did him a world of good, I believe."

Ron and Hermione could only look awkwardly at each other after that news.

The idea that someone they hated for his cowardice in their world could be capable of that kind of self-sacrifice in _this _reality...

* * *

As he walked along one of the many routes he'd used to travel all the time when he was younger, lost in thought at the memories, Jason could have almost imagined that he was back in the early days of his Ranger career,

Harry, Ginny, Connor and Kira probably just viewed this particular missions as something to do- shut down the field and move on to their next objective of getting home-, but for Jason and Tommy, it was a chance to go back to where it had all begun for them, so many years ago, and even reconnect with a few old friends.

"It's good to see you again, Jason," Billy said, breaking into Jason's train of thought as he smiled at the other man before his expression became slightly more awkward. "I mean, I realize that you're not the Jason of _this _world..."

"Trust me, you're not the only one who's weirded out by this," Jason said, smiling back at his friend. "Hell, I haven't seen your counterpart in my world in almost eight years..."

"Really?" Billy asked, looking at Jason with a suddenly conflicted expression. "Did... did I do something-?"

"Oh, it's nothing you did wrong; you just moved to another planet and we haven't really had the chance to talk to you for a while," Jason said, smiling reassuringly at the original Blue Ranger.

"Another planet?" Billy said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Why did I do that?"

"Long story short, you needed access to this fountain-of-youth-like water they had to correct an accelerated aging problem you were suffering from after an accident at the command centre, and you decided to stick around for... personal reasons," Jason said, shrugging slightly as he concluded his explanation; somehow, mentioned Cestra to this Billy- who probably hadn't even met her or any Aquitarians in this reality; from what Hermione and Sylvia had found out in their research, it sounded like Zedd would have stopped attacking before Master Vile tried that stunt with the Orb of Doom that resulted in Earth calling them for help in the first place- just felt _too _weird.

"Ah," Billy said, looking contemplatively upwards for a moment before he looked back at Jason. "So, how did you end up on this team?"

"Well, in my reality Zordon created the Guardian Gems- the power sources Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny use- over a millennia ago when he was contacted by the founders of Hogwarts," Jason explained. "Apparently, he also created the White Gem in secret- what we've discovered suggests that he used the remaining energy in our original power coins to do it after Rito destroyed the Thunderzords- so that the Hogwarts Guardians would have a 'muggle' on the team as well to ensure that they wouldn't forget that whatever crisis required them to use the gems threatened the muggle world just as much as the magical one, and an associate of his- I'm not sure if she exists in this reality, so don't ask- guided me to the gem so that I could join the team."

"I see," Billy said, nodding in understanding. "Well, at least that confirms why the White Dragon Zord looked so familiar..."

"Huh?" Jason said, looking over at his alt-friend in surprise. "What was that?"

"Oh, your other zords settled into our zord bay after you'd finished using them following your arrival in our world," Billy explained. "I'd been trying to access your black box recordings to find out who you were before you contacted us directly, but all I'd been able to discover so far was that Zordon was the one who rebuilt the Red Dragon Thunderzord into the White Dragon Guardian Zord and that your team's Black Ranger is the second one to wield her powers."

"Yeah, her predecessor was this 'Draco Malfoy' guy they knew at school- he was basically Harry's main rival, apparently-; he was actually given the Black Gem after it had been created by Voldemort in our world based on some scans he'd taken of the others' gems," Jason explained, smiling slightly in relief when he heard where their zords had gone; at least he knew that they'd been in good hands. "I'm still not clear on _how _it happened- magic isn't really my strong point, you know-, but in our last confrontation with Malfoy, Ron was able to purify the gem with his faith so that it couldn't be used by Voldemort's forces any more."

"And where does... the new Ranger fit in?" Billy asked.

"Oh, Sylvia?" Jason said, shrugging casually. "She was a bit of a fan of ours back when she was a little girl- she actually became friends with one of the later Black Rangers, and even helped his Red Ranger activate a few secret weapons-, and she just stumbled across the gem after it flew away from Malfoy; fate may have picked her, and it takes a bit more effort for her to control the gem than it did Malfoy since it was _designed _for a wizard, but she's coped well enough so far."

"Ah," Billy said, smiling in understanding. "And... Tommy?"

"Oh, Tommy's team's actually retired already- they dealt with their bad guy a while back-, but Hermione and the others were able to give their power sources a boost to give them enough energy to help us; we're tracking this stuff Voldemort used to keep himself alive, and he apparently hid one of those things in their city," Jason explained.

"His horcruxes?" Billy asked.

"Huh?" Jason said, looking at his friend in surprise. "How-?"

"Amanda and the others told us about this world's Voldemort, and apparently he used those as well," Billy explained.

"And who's Amanda?" Jason asked, looking at Billy with a slight grin as he noticed his old friend's suddenly awkward expression; it might have been years since he'd seen Billy, but some things could never be forgotten. "New girlfriend?"

"A... Amanda is Alan's twin sister," Billy answered, the slight return of his old stutter answering Jason's question for him even without Billy suddenly turning a shade of scarlet that more resembled Jason's original uniform than his usual colour. "She's in charge of the zord repairs, and also the one who created Alan's battle armour."

"A literally wizard tech genius?" Jason said, smiling at his friend; it had been too long since he'd been able to indulge in banter about such simple things like this. "Sounds like she's perfect for you."

"True, she's quite competent in the area of computers despite the fact that she's a witch- a very, pretty, sweet, and charming witch..." Billy began, only to trail off as he noticed the grin that Jason was shooting in his direction. "I know what you're thinking, Jase, but it's not like that; she's seventeen and I'm nineteen-"

"So?" Jason asked with a shrug. "She's only two years younger."

"Her brother just happens to be the present Red Ranger and he's very protective of his friends and family-" Billy pointed out.

"And I'm sure that he loves his sister enough to want to see her happy," Jason interjected.

"And-" Billy continued without missing a beat, "she has the power to turn me into a toad- and we're here."

Glancing around, Jason noted that they were indeed already in the now-abandoned Children's Theatre that Billy had mentioned earlier; with the seats cleared away, it should be a pretty good choice as an area to set up the De-stabiliser, and the expression on Billy's face made it clear that the previous conversation about Amanda was now over.

"Let's get this done and check in with the others," Billy said, checking over the device before heading to the centre of the area where the theatre's seating had been originally, Jason helping him carry the device into position. After making the necessary adjustments, Billy opened the hatch where the polarity switches were located before indicating to Jason to get into position on the opposite side of the device.

"On my go," Billy said, allowing Jason a moment to prepare himself before he nodded at his alternate friend, both men pressing their thumbs down on the controls in front of them. The device sparked for a few seconds before it emitted a multi-coloured pulse of light that shot upwards to strike the barrier in the sky overhead.

"That's one!" Jason said, grinning in triumph at Billy as he raised his morpher/communicator to his face. "Let's just check on the others."

Pausing for a moment to activate the gem, Jason smiled at the familiar white glow of power and spoke into the device. "Harry, this is Jason. Billy and I have our end going, how's the situation coming along on your end?"

"_We're activating the De-stabilizer now_," Harry responded, prompting Billy and Jason to glance over in the direction of the lake just as a second pulse appeared in the sky above the treeline.

"That's two down," Billy nodded in satisfaction. "I'll check in with Alan."

Glancing in the direction of the southern playground, Jason smiled as he saw another beam firing as another device was activated; clearly Connor and Kira had finished their work as well.

He just hoped things were going OK for Tommy and Alan as well; that Sentinel statue was always a tricky subject for any Ranger after Tommy's first outing as the White Ranger...

* * *

As he walked alongside the second new Red Ranger he'd met in the last twenty-four hours, Tommy had to admit that he was actually enjoying himself; the quiet life might have a lot to recommend it, but that didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy the chance to get back into action like this.

Besides, how many people got the chance to go to alternate universes?

It wasn't going to be simple to get home, but Tommy had faith that they could pull it off; with Billy and Zordon working on it, they'd be home in no time.

Zordon...

That was one part of this encounter that Tommy had _very _ambiguous feelings about.

On the one hand, the fact that the date of the Countdown to Destruction had come and gone suggested that it wasn't going to happen in this reality at all, so at least he wouldn't have to worry about keeping Zordon's future history safe from him, but even with that knowledge, he still wasn't sure how you go about telling an alternate version of the person who'd played such a major role in your life and who you were now that they were dead in your world...

He wondered briefly if those conflicting thoughts were reflected on his face- judging by the uncertain stare he was receiving from Alan, the other Ranger was wondering what he was thinking about-, but then they reached their destination and Tommy's thoughts had something else to occupy them; the sight of the Sentinel statue, its fist-like shape sitting in the middle of the stone fountain, left Tommy momentarily lost in the memories of the time he'd fought this monster and its secondary creations during his first outing as Earth's original White Ranger.

He might have held the fate of the world in his hands on a regular basis in those days, but it had been a simpler time all around... when all he'd needed was his friends, his powers, and Kimberly to give him the strength to get through the day...

"You all right?" Alan asked, the younger man's voice breaking into the older Ranger's train of thought, prompting him to look back at his new acquaintance (It was too early to consider Alan a friend). "You kind of zoned out there for a minute."

"Just... memories, you know," Tommy said, indicating the statue with a wave of his hand. "A monster created from this statue was the first threat I ever faced as the leader of my team, as well as the first threat I ever fought as the White Ranger; it just... it brings back memories, you know."

"Ah," Alan said, nodding in understanding before he turned his attention back to the object in his hands. "Come on; let's get this thing set up so we can get out of here."

The Red Patronus Ranger had just taken a step forward to place the device on the ground when the Energy De-stabilizer was suddenly blown out of his hands by a blast of energy that sent Alan stumbling backwards into Tommy, who instinctively grabbed him to keep him from falling.

"What the Hell-?" Alan began, only for his question to be answered as he and Tommy looked in the direction of the energy blast to see a large monster standing there, looking for all the world like a massive lock holding a key-like weapon in his hand.

"You're not going anywhere, Red Ranger!" the monster declared, waving its weapon around with the arrogance that all new monsters seemed to portray.

"_COME ON_!" Alan yelled, staring upwards in exasperation. "_Three _monsters _and _a new type of foot soldier in _one day? _Zedd must be _bored _or something!"

"Yeah, it's annoying, but I think we can both agree that fighting has to be our immediate priority," Tommy said, activating his morpher as he pulled out the key that formed the secondary part of his own morphing sequence. "Let's just get on with this, huh?"

"Good point," Alan said, activating his own morpher as he brought two bracelets on either wrist together in front of him and was immediately engulfed in a golden light. "It's Morphin' Time! Red Wolf Patronus Power!"

"Dino Thunder, Power Up!" Tommy said, activating the key of his own morpher. As Alan summoned a red wolf and began speaking to it, Tommy drew the Brachio Staff and charged at their new foe, Adam close behind him as the wolf raced off, apparently carrying some kind of message to the others.

They might be dealing with far too many monsters and questions for Zedd's usual plots, but that was no reason for them not to keep fighting these bastards...


	39. Four Monsters for the Price of Two

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Collaborative efforts continue

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Listening to the tales that this world's Luna had to tell her about Voldemort's activities in this reality, Hermione almost couldn't believe that anything could be worse than his actions in her universe, but it would appear that this Voldemort had surpassed himself. A part of her wondered why that was- maybe his failure to kill Harry meant that he had more time to build his own power and support in this world where he'd lost that time in her world because of the time he'd spent dead-, but that was academic in the face of the news of everyone this world had lost.

Over five-eighths of a four-hundred-man-strong task force... Lupin and Tonks... Neville... Cho Chang... Lavender Brown... all those nameless and as-yet-unidentified muggles and muggle-borns killed when someone triggered the 'Azkaban Massacre'...

"My God..." she said, shaking her head in shock, barely aware of Ron nodding in agreement beside her while Sylvia, Ethan and Trent could only stare in shock at the three wizards. ""I... I simply can't believe that all of you actually made it through all of that!"

"And we thought that _we _had it tough back on our own world," Ron said, swallowing apprehensively. "And now that Voldemort has that wand, he might actually be able to do just as much damage- if not _more_- than _your _Voldemort!"

"This guy seriously killed _that _many people just because they couldn't do magic?" Sylvia asked, looking at Luna incredulously.

"Yes," Luna replied with a nod at the female Black Ranger. "You don't believe me?"

"Look, I'm not saying you're _lying_, it's just... it's hard to process, you know?" Sylvia said, shrugging slightly awkwardly. "I mean, this guy might be a wizard, but the idea of one person killing _that _many people for some stupid fluke of biology that nobody can control..."

"It's been done before..." said Trent, a look of disgust on the White Dino Thunder Power Ranger's face as he crossed his arms in reflection. "Hell, even without magic, Hitler decimated the Jews and the Poles just for being 'different' in his eyes, and we all know that Lenin and Stalin imprisoned and murdered several of their own people just to maintain their power."

"What I _don't _get," Ron said, looking inquiringly at Luna, "is _how _Voldemort was able to keep recruiting while he was sitting inside a high-security cell?"

"He had a lot of time to build up his power while he was in Azkaban; some think that he was able to recruit the Dementors to help him while he was inside, which is why things went so bad so quickly afterwards," Luna explained.

"That sounds like something he would do." Hermione nodded with a grim expression "Dementors will take the side of _anyone _who would be able to provide them with enough souls to feast on and it _would _be quite possible for Voldemort to use them to deliver messages to his followers on the outside..."

As Luna nodded solemnly, Ron and Hermione could only exchange apprehensive glances at the thought of Voldemort trying something similar back home; if he could do that here _without _the enhanced magic provided by Rita's wand, there was no _way _they could leave him alive and just try locking him up somewhere like they'd attempted to do here...

"Hey!" Ethan suddenly crying out, the other Blue Ranger's cries drawing Ron and Hermione's attention away from their internal musings. "What's that?"

Looking in the direction of Ethan's pointing finger, Hermione's eyes widened at the sight of a glowing red wolf that resembled a Patronus apart from the colour, hurtling through the air towards them. As the Rangers leapt to their feet, the Patronus landed and Alan Black's voice came from the wolf.

"_Luna_!" the other Red Ranger said via what could only be his Power-Ranger-enhanced Patronus (Hermione made a mental note to explore her own team's ability to channel their powers into the Patronus; their past efforts to combine their Patronuses had been effective, but this looked like it would be far more powerful), "_Doctor Oliver and I are under attack at the Sentinel Statue and our De-stabilizer device has been destroyed! Contact the others_!"

As the wolf fizzled and vanished, Luna had already activated her communicator before any of the others could ask about what had just happened.

"Zordon," she said urgently, "we have a situation, I'm afraid."

"_Yes, Luna_," Zordon's voice said from the communicator's speakers. "_I am well aware of the situation. Alpha and Amanda are working on a way to use the Command Center's scanning systems to bring down the now-weakened barrier. Until the other Patronus Rangers can join you, I am afraid that you will have to go alone_."

"Um... excuse me, Mr Zordon... sir?" Hermione said, grabbing Luna's wrist and speaking into the communicator; she felt a bit strange addressing someone who'd been dead in her world for years, but she felt that it had to be said. "Why does Luna need to go alone? We can help!"

"_Hermione_," Zordon's voice replied, "_I do not need to remind you that this world is not yours and I have no right in asking you to fight for it_."

"Ask us anyway!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hermione's right!" Ethan added, Trent, Ron and Sylvia already nodding in agreement as their Blue Rangers addressed Luna's communicator. "All of us are Rangers and Doctor O. is both our mentor and our teammate; we're in this together!"

After a brief silence, Zordon's voice replied over the communicator, sounding slightly pleased at their response.

"_I commend all of you for your bravery__," t_he ancient wizard said at last. "_Very well. Go now and may the Power protect you_!"

With that, Luna turned the communicator off, smiling gratefully at the Rangers gathered around her as Hermione gave her the same grin.

"This is your world, Luna," she said. "Would you be so kind as to lead us?"

"Well," Luna answered, with a serene smile of her own, "all right; it's _Morphin' Time_!"

With a flick of her wrists, Luna activated her morphers, the action being quickly imitated by the others.

"White Hare Patronus Power!"

"Ravenclaw Guardian- _attivare!" _

"Hufflepuff Guardian- _attivare!" _

"Black Guardian Power!"

"Dino Thunder-Power Up! HA!"

"White Ranger- Dino Power!"

As the transformation finished, Hermione quickly raised her gem to her mouth and activated the communication function.

"Harry," she said urgently, even as she, Ron and Luna reached out to grab the wrists of the other three Rangers, "Alan and Doctor Oliver are in trouble! We're on our way there now! Gather the others and meet us there! Hermione out!"

With that, the magical Rangers grabbed the non-magical members of the team and apparated towards their allies, praying that they'd reach the scene in time to make a difference.

* * *

As Tommy ducked under the first blow from the keyhole-like monster, he had to wonder how things had reached this stage in this reality; as Alan had pointed out, Zedd _never _sent out this many monsters at once normally.

Even if that Tebo-thing had come from Tommy's original world with the intention of eliminating the Hogwarts Guardians, that still left that lion-monster he'd heard about earlier, and now there was this keyhole-like thing to deal with on top of the issue that the forcefield now couldn't be shut down; if they couldn't shut the forcefield down from the inside, they were _definitely _in trouble.

Glancing over at his ally, he noticed Alan striking this 'Lockmaster' creature with his Patronus Sabre without any more significant damage being caused than a few sparks, the creature retaliating with two powerful blows that sent the Red Ranger of this world flying backwards. As Alan tried to get back to his feet, Tommy launched a couple of energy orb attacks at the creature, but it only sent the monster stumbling back for a few steps before he straightened up again.

"So... you wanna play _that _way, do you?" Lockmaster said mockingly. "Well, let me try one for _you_!"

With that, the monster launched his own wave of energy at Tommy, the Black Ranger barely avoiding the attack as Alan fired a spell of his own at Lockmaster. The initial blast had no real impact, but the second attack had more success, Alan summoning a whirlwind that sent Lockmaster flying into the air in a miniature tornado before it fell back to the ground, crashing into a nearby wall.

"You OK?" Tommy asked as he hurried over to stand beside the other Red Ranger, the younger man slightly dazed but clearly no less ready to keep fighting.

"Yeah, I'm good," Alan replied, looking grimly at Lockmaster. "But nothing we do even _scratches _this guy!"

"I know," Tommy said, grimly taking in the creature before them. "But we have to keep at it until the others get here -"

Tommy was about to say more, when Ethan and Trent suddenly appeared in front of them, accompanied by Ron, Hermione, Sylvia, and a white-clad form that could only be Luna, returned to her original Ranger attire.

"Luna, you could _not _have arrived at a better time!" Alan said, clearly relieved to see his teammate again.

"It was no problem," the White Patronus Force Ranger replied, the slight tilt of her head somehow suggesting a smile despite the lack of a mouth.

"I sent word to Harry; the others should be here soon," Hermione added.

"Good," Alan said grimly. "At this rate, we're going to need all of the help we can get-!"

"_WHITE RANGER_!" Lockmaster's voice suddenly yelled, the Rangers spinning around just in time to see the monster in question glaring at Luna, gesturing at her with his sword as he continued speaking. "The boss heard that you got hurt, so he sent me to give you a little present!"

Tommy didn't need his long experience as a Power Ranger to know that whatever Lockmaster had planned was going to be bad; the fact that the monster's subsequent attack struck the Sentinel Statue, transforming it into the familiar, slender, red-bodied, white-haired form of Nimrod, the familiar long staff in the arms of the first monster he'd ever faced as the White Ranger.

"Uh oh..." Tommy said, swallowing anxiously as he stared at their new enemy.

"Well," the familiar form of Nimrod said, glaring at the Rangers before it, "it's been a long time, Power Rangers! I see there's more of you this time, but that _still _won't be enough to save you!"

"Honestly," Alan said, a mocking tone to his voice as he glared at their foe, "can't you creeps come up with _new _catchphrases, rather than use the same old tired _cliché _all the time?"

"Careful," Tommy said, glancing between the other Red Ranger and the old monster, "I've dealt with Nimrod before; she's tougher than she looks."

"I'm _much _tougher this time around, Black Ranger," Nimrod said, motioning with her staff at the Rangers before them. "I'm sure that you'll remember my associates; AC and DC!"

With that, Nimrod summoned up two balls of scarlet energy, the Rangers only able to watch as the balls re-shaped and solidified into two additional scarlet-coloured monsters, essentially looking like effeminate males, one with long black hair and over-sized ears while the other had a third eye in the middle of its forehead, although both wielded swords.

"Oh, come _on_!" Ron exclaimed in frustration. "How are we going to deal with _four _monsters?"

"Any way we can!" Alan said, raising his Patronus Sabre into a combat stance. "Let's do it!"

Tommy and Jason's cries of warning went unheeded as Alan charged towards Nimrod and her minions, narrowly ducking under DC's blade to knock AC to the ground, exploiting the temporary opening in Nimrod's defences to begin trading blows with the original monster. Just as DC was attempting to attack Alan from behind, Ron and Hermione charged forwards to intercept the monster in question, Trent and Sylvia tackling AC while Tommy found himself fighting Lockmaster alongside Ethan.

It wasn't a perfect arrangement, of course- monsters were rarely ever easily put down by less than a full team of Rangers working together, and most cases where such a feat had been accomplished were because their main enemy had simply recreated old foes without much effort rather than trying to create something completely new-, but as Tommy and Ethan ducked around Lockmaster's attacks, Ethan deflecting blows with his shield while Tommy struck out with his staff, he had to admit that it looked like this strategy might pay off; maybe Zedd had been hoping to catch them off-guard by hitting them with a combination of new and old foes simultaneously...

A yell of pain from Alan prompted Tommy to glance over anxiously after he and Ethan had sent Lockmaster back to the ground with a quick kick, but he barely had enough time to take in the sight of Alan lying on the ground before the white-clad woman that Harry and his friends had identified as 'Luna Lovegood' leapt over him to attack Nimrod, hitting the monster with an aerial kick that made Tommy himself feel proud even before she drew her wand and hit the monster with a series of spells. Turning his attention back to Lockmaster, Tommy leapt back into action, quickly trading blows with the monster for a few moments before Ethan rejoined the battle, only for his attempted attack to be intercepted as Lockmaster grabbed the Tricera Shield in his spare hand.

"I do not know who you are or what you are doing here, Black Ranger," Lockmaster said, glaring scornfully at him as the three strained against the other's weapons- the fighter in Tommy had to admit that Lockmaster was probably ahead on points, given that he was holding the Tricera Shield back with one hand while pressing against the Brachio Staff with his sword in the other-, "but I _can _assure you that you will _not _live to enjoy it!"

"I've tangled with your master before and I'm still here; after that, anything else he can throw at me is a walk in the park," Tommy said, returning Lockmaster's equivalent of a glare with one of his own.

"Add in the fact that he taught me and my friends everything we know about Rangers, and the fact that the other guys learned their tricks from the person who taught _him _in the beginning, and I think it's safe to say you're outmatched, huh?" Ethan said, sounding like he was grinning under the helmet even as he continued to strain against Lockmaster's grip. "Face facts; you're _way _out of your depth-"

"_ENOUGH_!" Lockmaster yelled, his weapon suddenly glowing as he struck Tommy and Ethan with two rapid bursts of energy, knocking them back as Lockmaster turned its attention over to Alan and Luna; now that Tommy looked, the two Rangers of this world had managed to knock Nimrod over, but Alan had been caught off-guard by a counter-attack that had sent him to the ground, surrounded by ropes of energy that did little to encourage Tommy's hopes that they could all come through this mess intact.

"_THE RED RANGER'S DOWN_!" Lockmaster shouted over to Nimrod at the same time the metal monster knocked Tommy and Ethan to the grass. "_CARRY OUT THE BOSS'S ORDERS AND TAKE CARE OF THE WHITE RANGER_!"

As Nimrod called over to its 'associates' to get the job done, AC neatly avoided Sylvia and Trent's attacks while DC blasted Ron and Hermione back with a blow of its own, the two hurrying over to Nimrod. As Tommy and the other Rangers scrambled back to their feet, the three monsters touched their weapons together, leaving all three weapons glowing with energy.

"Let's take care of the Red Ranger first!" Nimrod suggested, the three monsters quickly aiming their weapons at the still-bound Alan. "Ooze won't mind if we take out the leader of the Power Rangers, as well!"

Before Tommy or any of the others could move to intercept the beam heading for the currently-powerless Alan, Luna dived into the path of the beam herself, the subsequent blast leaving her body riddled with ropes of energy as her costume fizzled and vanished, falling to her knees shortly before Alan did the same, his own costume remaining intact.

Just as Tommy was trying to work out what to do next, he glanced up at the welcome sight of the barrier around the park vanishing from view, followed swiftly by the appearance of three yellow, blue and black figures clad in similar Ranger costumes to Alan and Luna's. Glancing off to the side at the sound of rapid running, Tommy smiled at the sight of Connor and Kira hurrying towards them from one direction, Harry and Ginny's red and green forms coming from another direction as the now white-clad Jason ran towards them with Billy close behind him.

Evidently, Tommy reflected with some satisfaction, they didn't have to worry about getting that barrier down any more; their only objective now was to take care of the threat to Alan and Luna before anything happened to them...

"Our job is done!" Lockmaster called over to Nimrod. "We need to go! Now!"

With that order, the four monsters vanished in a flash, leaving the other Rangers to gather around their fallen allies, Hermione already casting what Tommy assumed were diagnosis spells of some kind to examine Luna before the Yellow Patronus Force Ranger tore past them, screaming in horror at the sight of her fallen friends. Demorphing into her civilian appearance of a tall and slender red-haired girl with horrified green eyes and dressed in faded blue jeans, a yellow top, and a black denim jacket, she fell to her knees at the side of the Red Patronus Ranger, while the Black Patronus Ranger began to check him over.

"C'mon, mate," the Black Ranger said in a distinctive Australian accent. "Please... be OK..."

After a few moments of checking over his fallen teammate, leaving the other Rangers with nothing to do but watch, he sighed and seemed to relax as he looked over at the others.

"He's going to be all right," he said, his gaze focusing on the Yellow Patronus Ranger. "He took a nasty hit, but he'll come around."

"But Luna isn't," Hermione added, her tone a business-like one that Tommy recognised from long experience dealing with Billy when he had to tell them something he didn't like to think about more than he had to. "That... _monster_... hit her with some type of energy beam."

"We'll get her to the Command Centre's Medical Chamber," the Black Ranger said, looking around at the others. "You guys are coming too; Zordon wants to talk to you."

"Trust us," Jason said, nodding solemnly at the Black Ranger, "we want to talk to him too."

Only Tommy's experience with Jason allowed him to recognise the tension that filled his old friend at the thought of what was about to happen.

Almost a decade after his death, they were about to see Zordon- or at least a version of him- once again...


	40. Zordon of Another World

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: A few more scenes done exclusively by me in this one; hope you like it

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As she sat anxiously in the pocket dimension where she now existed in the absence of the Command Centre's matrix to maintain her essence, Dimitria wished that she knew what she could do next.

She had definitely sensed her latest team of Rangers fall through whatever portal Goldar had created with the Orb of Doom, and she had also been aware when Lord Voldemort had created that second portal, but without any way to access the other side of the portals herself, there was relatively little that she could do.

Given her current status in this pocket dimension, even attempting to contact one of the former Turbo Rangers for assistance would be complicated to achieve at best, and then there were so many other factors such as the difficulty involved in establishing a connection with that other world without knowledge of the ritual that Voldemort had used to take into account...

Voldemort might be using Rita's wand, but the combination of his own magical knowledge and her power were allowing him to create a unique blend of 'disciplines' that Dimitria was becoming increasingly afraid of; the fact that he had created the Black Gem so quickly alone indicated that there was more going on here than even she was aware of.

She knew from what she had learned from the portrait of Albus Dumbledore and the information she had received from the Rangers that Voldemort was a powerful and dangerous foe on his own, but nothing that they had told her indicated that Voldemort had the capability to wield Rita's wand and magic in the manner that he had demonstrated so far; the effortless manner in which Rita had wielded such power came from her significant experience rather than that power being naturally easy.

The only problem was, with Rita and Zedd reformed after the Countdown and the rest of the Alliance of Evil dead (Or also converted, in the case of her sister and Karone), who could be teaching Voldemort how to use his new power?

There were too many questions even for her to feel comfortable, and the fact that there was no way for her to find those answers right now only made things worse...

* * *

Looking around at the command centre they found themselves standing in, Harry was just grateful that Jason and Tommy seemed to be just as surprised at this brightly-lit white building as he and the others were; evidently there were more differences between their two worlds than just the existence of the Patronus Force in this reality. Alan and Luna were currently checked over in the lower medical levels of the building by a robotic being that Jason and Tommy had identified as 'Alpha'- the design had apparently been different but both of them confirmed that such a robot had existed back in their world- and a young woman called Amanda that the other Patronus Force Rangers had identified as Alan's sister, leaving Harry and his team to cope with the other three members of the Patronus Force.

Personally, Harry just wished that he could avoid the attention he was attracting from this world's Yellow Ranger; learning that his mother was alive in this world was one thing, but coping with the idea that he had a sister who'd never been born in this world was something else (If nothing else, a part of him couldn't help but wonder if she'd been conceived in this world but died with his mother, even as the rest of him tried to resist that thought; it opened up _far _too many questions he almost didn't want answered)...

"I've gotta say," Jason said, smiling slightly as he looked around the main chamber, "whoever designed your command centre definitely put a lot more thought into it than the original one we had back home; this looks more like the Power Chamber."

"Except even the Power Chamber wasn't this well-lit; looks like whatever made our worlds different happened long before Zedd deciding to take 'time off'..." Tommy reflected, before he looked over at this world's Billy as another detail occurred to him. "So... where's Zordon?"

"He thought it best to let you make yourselves comfortable before showing himself," Billy replied, shrugging slightly before glancing over at a door that was just opening off to the side, revealing the exhausted-looking forms of Alan and Luna as they walked in from the examination.

"Alan..." Elizabeth said, her attention being drawn away from Harry- much to his relief; he _really _didn't know how to react to her curiosity- as she threw herself into Alan's arms, pulling away only to give Luna a sisterly hug. "How are you two?"

"Other than having over-exerted myself, I'm fine," Alan said, his expression grim as he turned to address the others. "But I'm afraid that Zordon discovered why Nimrod was brought back."

"She was after Luna directly," Tommy said, the oldest Ranger of Harry's world clearly unhappy about his deduction. "I heard Lockmaster when Nimrod trapped you in those energy ropes."

"I AM AFRAID SO, TOMMY," a deep voice said before the large white face of a solemn-looking humanoid male appeared in a large glass tube that vaguely reminded Harry of the one that Jason had told them had held Zordon in the original command centre of their world.

Judging by the pale expressions of shock and uncertainty on Tommy and Jason's faces as they stared at the tube, the faint gleam of tears in the corner of their eyes, neither of the old Rangers were entirely sure how they should feel right now.

"Zordon..." Jason said, swallowing slightly as he addressed the Eltarian wizard in an emotional voice. "Is... is it really _you_?"

"YES, JASON," Zordon said, his tone the same paternal expression that Harry had often received from Dumbledore as he looked at Harry's Ranger mentor. "I AM THE ZORDON OF _THIS _WORLD... BUT, REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES, I AM PLEASED TO MEET YOU."

With that said, he turned to look at the other, younger Rangers, all of whom were simply staring in silent awe at the being before them.

Harry had little doubt that the Dino Thunder Rangers were remembering what tales Tommy had told them of Zordon, just as he and the others were remembering what Jason had told them about this guy; in the end, all of modern Ranger history could trace its roots back to the being now floating before them.

"HARRY, GINNY, RON, HERMIONE, SYLVIA, CONNOR, KIRA, ETHAN, AND TRENT, WELCOME TO THE COMMAND CENTRE," Zordon said, smiling warmly at them. "I ASSURE YOU THAT YOU SHALL BE SAFE WITHIN THESE WALLS, AND IT IS A PLEASURE TO HAVE YOU HERE."

"Uh... Zordon?" Alan asked, looking at their mentor with concern. "I'm sorry to break this up, but what did Nimrod do to Luna?"

Harry didn't need to know Zordon to know that the solemn expression on his face as he addressed this world's Red Ranger meant that he had bad news.

"Nimrod used her powers to de-stabilize Luna's magical core," Zordon replied. "If she makes even the smallest attempt to use magic, her magical core will rupture and Luna's body will explode; killing both her as well as anyone unfortunate enough to be within range."

The only consolation about the fact that Harry was left stunned into silence by that statement was the knowledge that everyone around him felt the same way; the idea that someone could do something like that to any wizard was almost too much to believe.

Harry knew that he was dealing with evil on an age and scale that even Voldemort would probably never achieve even if he succeeded in his mad ambitions, but the thought of someone turning a wizard into a magical bomb...

"Is... is there anything we can do for her, Zordon?" Elizabeth asked, tearfully looking up at the face in the tube as she held Luna to her.

"I DO NOT BELIEVE SO, ELIZABETH," Zordon replied with a sad shake of his head. "IN TIME, LUNA'S MAGICAL CORE WILL HEAL ITSELF, BUT I FEAR THAT IT WIL TAKE TIME THAT WE DO NOT HAVE; NOW THAT ZEDD HAS RE-CREATED NIMROD, IT WILL ONLY BE A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE HE STRIKES AGAIN, AND YOU WILL NEED TO BE AT FULL STRENGTH IN ORDER TO DEFEAT HER."

"What does _that _mean?" Alan asked, even as his voice suggested that he knew what Zordon was about to suggest.

"IN ORDER TO SAVE LUNA'S LIFE, SHE WILL NEED TO BE PLACED WITHIN SUSPENDED ANIMATION FOR A PERIOD OF NO LONGER THAN THREE MONTHS," Zordon explained. "THIS WILL AID HER BODY IN REPAIRING ITSELF, AS WELL AS ROBBING ZEDD OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO FORCE LUNA TO USE MAGIC _BEFORE _HER MAGICAL CORE IS RESTORED. DURING THIS TIME, LUNA MUST CHOOSE A WORTHY INDIVIDUAL TO CARRY ON AS THE NEW WHITE RANGER."

"I already have," Luna said, turning her attention towards the stunned form of Amanda Black.

"Why are you looking at me?" Amanda asked, looking in confusion back at Luna. "I... I'm not a Ranger- I don't know how..."

"Nobody knows when they're starting out in this kind of thing, Amanda," Hermione said, smiling reassuringly over at the other woman. "You can't exactly prepare to become a hero; all you can do is find out how you'll react when you're in that kind of position for the first time... and if Luna thinks you can do the job, I think you can trust her opinion."

"Hermione's right," Luna said, smiling briefly over at the Blue Hogwarts Guardian Ranger before she walked over to Amanda. "You are the only one that I can feel safe with passing my powers to, Amanda. As a matter of fact, I have a feeling that you'll make a far better Ranger than I am."

Before Amanda could protest any further, Luna had removed her morphers and clamped them onto Amanda's wrists, Amanda barely having time to gasp in shock before she was surrounded by white light, the energy fading away to leave Luna's costume in place of Amanda's original clothes, with the White Ranger's helmet held in her hands.

"It is to you that I entrust my powers as well as full control of the Harezord," Luna said, her tone far more solemn than anything that Harry had heard from what he had to consider 'his' Luna. "May they aid and protect you."

"I'll do my best to make you proud," Amanda replied after a moment's silent uncertainty as she looked at her new attire, ignoring the apprehensive stare she was receiving from her brother; evidently Alan felt rather uncomfortable about this turn of events (Not that Harry could blame him; Ron had occasionally sulked a bit during their brief time at Privet Drive at the beginning of summer about the fact that Ginny was going to be getting involved with this particular crisis, and then he'd had some time to adjust to the fact that Harry was _dating _his sister to 'prepare' him for the idea that she'd be involved in the crisis).

"YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELF TO BE WORTHY AND TRUE, LUNA," Zordon said, after Amanda had powered down and returned to her civilian attire. "AND WHILE IT SADDENS ME THAT YOU HAVE BEEN FORCED TO GIVE UP YOUR POWERS, I HAVE FAITH THAT AMANDA WILL PROVE HERSELF JUST AS WORTHY OF THE MANTLE OF THE WHITE RANGER. NOW, IF YOU WILL FOLLOW ALPHA, HE WILL TAKE YOU TO THE MEDICAL CHAMBERS WHERE YOU WILL BE PLACED INSIDE A STASIS TUBE TO BEGIN YOUR HEALING."

"Don't worry about me," Luna said, pausing as she walked over to where the small red-and-gold robot in question stood by a new door to look reassuringly at her teammates. "I'll be fine, and I'll see you in a few months. I love you all."

As Luna vanished through the door, Elizabeth let out a sob and buried her face in Alan's shoulder, the Red Ranger shaking in anger as he stared at the door.

"Uh... are you all right?" Harry asked, looking uncertainly at the man who was essentially his Ranger counterpart in this world.

"No," Alan retorted, glaring over at Harry. "I'm _not _all right; because I didn't listen to Luna's warnings about taking it easy, she's got to pay for my _screw-up _of taking on Nimrod by myself-"

"In other words, you acted on impulse and someone else has suffered, right?" Harry interjected, walking over to firmly grab Alan's shoulder and turn the other young man around to face him directly. "Trust me, you came out of it better than I did when I was put into a situation like that; I actually _killed _someone because I made a decision like that back in my world."

Alan's eyes widened in shock as he registered Harry's words, the other Red Ranger left in silence as he stared at his counterpart's simple yet direct gaze.

"So count yourself lucky that you didn't have to learn your lesson the way I did," Harry continued, his tone firm as he stared at his friend. "Being the leader means living with the consequences of your mistakes as much as anything else; you made a mistake here, but it's not like everyone else wasn't aware of the risks when they got into this whole Ranger game, after all."

"HARRY IS CORRECT, ALAN," Zordon said, solemnly addressing his Red Ranger. "ALL POWER RANGERS FACE DANGER WHENEVER THEY BATTLE THE FORCES OF EVIL, BUT YOU ALL CHOSE TO JOIN THIS FIGHT IN FULL AWARENESS OF THE RISKS. LUNA'S TEMPORARY LOSS IS A TRAGEDY FOR US ALL, BUT WE MUST FOCUS ON THE FACT THAT SHE IS SAFE; EVERYTHING ELSE IS FOR LATER CONSIDERATION."

For a moment, Zordon and the others waited in silence, giving Alan time to process what his mentor had told him, before Zordon continued speaking. "FOR NOW, WE MUST FOCUS ON THE CURRENT SITUATION; IF ZEDD BELIEVES THAT HE HAS WEAKENED THE TEAM-"

"I don't think it's Zedd we're facing right now," Alan suddenly interjected. "Just as she was about to hit me, Nimrod said something about how someone called... Ooze, I think it was... wouldn't mind me being taken out; does that-?"

"_Ooze_?" Billy suddenly said, dropping the tools he was carrying and looking between Alan and Zordon in shock. "As in... _Ivan Ooze_? But we destroyed him three years ago!"

"Who's Ivan Ooze?" Hermione asked (Glancing over at Jason and Tommy, Harry was grateful to note that they seemed to be just as confused as everyone else; apparently, the new command centre design was far from the only difference between this world and their one).

"RANGERS, TURN YOUR ATTENTION TO THE VIEWING GLOBE," Zordon said, prompting the three teams to turn and observe the large white orb at the other end of the room. As they watched, the orb displayed a purple humanoid creature dressed in purple-and-black robes with two pointed horns on his chin that curled around each other to create a goatee-like appearance.

"THIS IS IVAN OOZE," Zordon explained. "THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, HE RULED THE UNIVERSE IN A REIGN OF UNPARALLELED TERROR, UNTIL MY THEN-ACTIVE TEAM OF RANGERS MANAGED TO IMPRISON HIM IN A HYPERLOCK CHAMBER AND BURIED THE CHAMBER UNDERNEATH THE EARTH'S SURFACE. THREE YARS AGO, HE ESCAPED AND SUCCESSFULLY DESTROYED THE COMMAND CENTRE WHILE KEEPING THE RANGERS OCCUPIED WITH HIS MINIONS, FORCING THEM TO TRAVEL TO THE DISTANT PLANET OF PHAEDOS TO UNLOCK A GREAT AND LEGENDARY POWER TO OPPOSE HIM. UPON THEIR RETURN, THE RANGERS WERE ABLE TO DEFEAT OOZE BY HURLING HIM INTO THE PATH OF A PASSING COMET. WE PRESUMED THAT OOZE HAD BEEN DESTROYED IN THE IMPACT, BUT, GIVEN HIS UNIQUE NATURE, THERE WAS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY THAT HE SURVIVED IN SOME FORM; IT SIMPLY BECAME LESS AND LESS LIKELY THAT HE WOULD RETURN AS THE YEARS WENT ON..."

"And now he went and beat the odds, huh?" Ethan asked, shaking his head grimly as he studied the being on the globe before them. "Something tells me this guy is going to be _really _hacked off..."

"There's no way Zedd's just going to stand by and let this guy take over -" Alan began.

"I AM AFRAID THAT, WHILE ZEDD COMMANDS GREATER RESOURCES, OOZE HAS FAR MORE TALENT FOR EVIL IN A DIRECT CONFRONTATION THAN ZEDD CAN HOPE TO POSSESS," Zordon informed the Patronus Force Red Ranger grimly. "IF HE HAS RETURNED AND CLAIMED CONTROL OF ZEDD'S FORCES, HE SHALL BE FAR MORE DIFFICULT TO DEFEAT THAN ANYTHING YOU HAVE FACED BEFORE."

"Great..." Nathan groaned, shaking his head in frustration. "We're up against the uber-Zedd, and there's only five of us..."

"Actually," Sylvia said, glaring over at her Patronus Force counterpart, "unless you've not been paying attention, you actually have _sixteen _Rangers in this room, remember?"

"This isn't your fight-" Alan began.

"We're not saying that we would completely reject the chance to get back to our world if it came down to a choice between going home and staying here, Alan; we're simply pointing out that, as long as we _are _here with no idea how to get back, we're available to help out so you might as well use us," Hermione said, glaring firmly over at the Red Ranger. "We're already involved in this situation after helping you all out earlier; Ooze isn't going to ignore us while we're here just because you don't want us to get involved."

"YOUR STATEMENTS ARE ACCURATE, HERMIONE GRANGER," Zordon said, frowning thoughtfully at the other Rangers, before his expression became slightly more cheerful as he turned to address his 'home team'. "AND NOW, PATRONUS FORCE RANGERS, IN THE FACE OF THIS CURRENT DEVELOPMENT, IT IS NOW TIME TO INFORM YOU OF YET ANOTHER CHANGE TO YOUR TEAM."

"Another change?" Alan asked, as the Patronus Force Rangers moved forward to stand around Zordon's tube, leaving the visiting Rangers to stand slightly back as the locals listened to their mentor. "What kind of change?"

"RANGERS," Zordon said, pride in the alien wizard's voice as he gazed down at them, "EVER SINCE YOU FIRST RECEIVED YOUR POWERS, THE FIVE OF YOU HAVE SHOWN THE COURAGE AND WILLINGNESS TO SACRIFICE THAT IS REQUIRED OF _ALL _POWER RANGERS THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. HOWEVER, IN THE FACE OF THE EVER-INCREASING ODDS THAT HAVE BEGUN TO MOUNT AGAINST YOU, IT HAS BEEN DECIDED THAT A _NEW _PATRONUS FORCE RANGER WOULD BE NEEDED, AND ALPHA AND I HAVE SPENT TIME RECENTLY SEEKING OUT THE NEEDED ITEMS, AS WELL AS A WORTHY INDIVIDUAL TO BECOME THE SIXTH MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM. OUR SEARCH HAS RECENTLY PROVEN FRUITFUL, AND A NEW PATRONUS RANGER WAS CREATED."

For a moment, Zordon waited in silence as the Patronus Force looked at each other with a mixture of surprise and eagerness, until he continued in a proud, triumphant voice. "AND NOW, MY FRIENDS, RANGERS, AND ALLIES, I PRESENT TO YOU THE PATRONUS FORCE GREEN RANGER."

As though Zordon's mere sentence was a spell, a magnificent green light appeared in the air above them, the rest of the people in the Command Centre looking up to witness a figure descending from the direction of the ceiling, revealed as it was lowered towards the floor to be a male figure dressed in a green Ranger suit with a gold shield-like vest around his chest and shoulders, an elephant's face in the middle of the vest with lightning-like tusks, a helmet resembling the helmet worn by the original Black Ranger- although Jason and Tommy were the only ones to make that immediate connection- and two holsters on either side of his waist, each with wands in them.

"WELCOME, GREEN RANGER," Zordon said, breaking the silence that had settled over the team. "IT IS NOW TIME TO REVEAL YOUR IDENTITY."

For a moment, the Patronus Force were all silent as the Green Patronus Force Ranger removed his helmet, the other Rangers simply looking at their new allies in silence until the helmet was completely removed, revealing a tall boy around Alan's height with his long black hair tied back in a ponytail and blue eyes that were filled with excitement.

"_SEAN_?" Alan said, gasping in horror at the sight of the young man standing before them.

"Hey guys," the new Green Ranger said, smiling casually at his new teammates.

"Oh no..." Alan said, ignoring the Green Ranger's slightly eager expression as he looked at Alan, clearly seeking his new team leader's approval. "First my sister, and now... my _cousin_?"

"Uh... correct me if I'm wrong, but don't these powers choose the wielders as much as anything else?" Ron interjected, indicating his gem as he looked over at Alan. "I mean, OK, maybe other people give us the chance to _become _Rangers, but we wouldn't be able to _keep _the powers if we weren't capable of using them-"

"Knowing that he can handle it isn't the point!" Alan interjected, glaring over at Ron in frustration. "Isn't isn't it enough that I have to worry about my sister being the White Ranger _without _having to worry about my _cousin? _This... this is my _family_-!"

"Hey, I've got _my _sister on my team too, in case you hadn't noticed!" Ron countered, waving a hand over at Ginny as he walked over to stare firmly at Alan. "Even before the Ranger thing kicked off, I had to deal with the fact that my entire family was on the front line in the war against Voldemort- and the only guy who _wasn't _out there doing his part only wasn't there because he was a complete git who thought his bloody job was more important than family loyalty-; the fact remains that you'll be worried about them wherever you are and whatever they're doing, so you might as well have them somewhere where you can be sure they'll be as safe as possible because you'll be on the front line with them."

"But-!" Alan began.

"RON WEASLEY IS CORRECT, ALAN," Zordon said, gazing down at the young man, a gentle, fatherly tone to his voice that reminded Harry of Dumbledore. "WHILE I UNDERSTAND YOUR CONCERN, YOU MUST ALSO ACCEPT THAT LUNA WOULD NOT HAVE CHOSEN AMANDA TO BE HER SUCCESSOR IF SHE DID NOT POSSESS THE QUALITIES NEEDED TO BECOME THE WHITE RANGER, JUST AS ALPHA AND I ONLY CHOSE SEAN TO BECOME THE GREEN RANGER AFTER WE CONFIRMED THAT HE POSSESSES THE STRENGTH, COURAGE AND HONOUR FOR SUCH A ROLE. THEY BELIEVE IN YOUR ABILITY TO SERVE AS THEIR LEADER, ALAN; YOU MUST LEARN TO SHOW THE SAME FAITH IN THEM."

Stuck for anything else to say in response to that statement, Alan simply looked around at the rest of his team before his gaze fixed on Elizabeth, Harry's cross-reality sister nodded at him before he looked over at Jake and Nathan, who offered him their own nods. Solemnly turning to where Sean stood, one hand outstretched, Alan swallowed apprehensively and walked over to shake Sean's hand.

"All right," Alan said, his hand still linked with Sean's in their moment of solidarity. "Let's go get some bad guys."

As though Alan's words had been a cue, the alarms suddenly sounded through the main chamber, prompting Billy to rush to the central console.

"Guys!" he said, looking anxiously back at the others. "Lockmaster's back; he's attacking the park!"

"DUE TO THE THREAT POSED BY LOCKMASTER AND THE AS-YET-UNKNOWN LIMITATIONS OF HIS POWERS," Zordon said, looking over at the other Rangers, "IT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL FOR ALL THREE TEAMS TO BE DEPLOYED TO FACE THIS THREAT."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Conner said, grinning up at the ancient alien wizard before he glanced over at his fellow Red Rangers. "Harry, Alan; shall we?"

"I think we're all for that," Harry said with a smile.

"Well..." Alan said, looking like he was automatically about to reply at first before he looked over at Amanda. "You OK, sis?"

"Just a bit nervous," Amanda replied with a brief nod.

"Just stay close to one of us and you'll be fine," Alan said, before looking around at the other Rangers as they took up position around him. "OK, guys; _it's Morphin' Time_!"

Moving as one, the six Patronus Force Power Rangers activated their morphers and quickly brought the wrist-mounted devices together as they made the call.

"Green Elephant Patronus Power!" Sean yelled out, causing his Green Ranger suit to completely cover his body.

"Black Rhino Patronus Power!" Nathan bellowed as he was quickly morphed into the Black Ranger.

"White Hare Patronus Power!" Amanda called, making her first official morph into the Patronus Force White Ranger.

"Blue Hawk Patronus Power!" In a flash, Jake was clad in the costume of the Blue Ranger.

"Yellow Lioness Patronus Power!" At her command, Elizabeth transformed into the Yellow Ranger.

"Red Wolf Patronus Power!" Alan shouted as he once again morphed into the Patronus Force Red Ranger.

"Dino Thunder- Power Up!" Connor, Kira, Ethan, and Tommy called out as they morphed into the Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black Dino Thunder Rangers respectively.

"White Ranger- Dino Power!" Trent said as he activated his own morpher, causing his transformation into the Dino Thunder White Ranger.

"Gryffindor Guardian- _attivare!" _Harry called out as he morphed into the Red Guardian Ranger.

"Ravenclaw Guardian -_ attivare!" _At the command, Hermione was instantly clad in the combat uniform of the Blue Guardian Ranger.

"Hufflepuff Guardian- _attivare!" _The yellow costume of the Hogwarts Guardian Power Ranger soon covered Ron's body.

"Slytherin Guardian- _attivare!" _Ginny cried as she morphed into the Green Guardian Ranger.

"White Dragon Guardian Power- _Now!" _At his summons, Jason was morphed into the identity of the White Guardian Ranger.

"Black Guardian Power!" Sylvia called as her own costume of the Black Guardian Ranger adorned her body.

"BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL, RANGERS," Zordon said, as the morphing process was completed. "LOCKMASTER HAS ALREADY PROVEN HIMSELF TO BE A CAPABLE OPPONENT. ALSO, IF HE HAS THE POWER TO REVIVE NIMROD, THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW WHAT OTHER MONSTERS HE MAY HAVE THE ABILITY TO SUMMON."

"We'll do what we can, Zordon." Alan said, nodding at the wizard before he looked back at the others. "Rangers... _BACK TO ACTION_!"


	41. The Battle of the Lock

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: More collaboration here as the fight scenes start to divide; check out the latest chapter of 'Power Rangers Patronus Force' for some of the more uniquely Patronus-Force-based contributions to this fight

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As they reappeared on the field where they had previously fought Lockmaster only a matter of hours ago, Harry wasn't entirely surprised to see the monster in question on a random rampage of destruction; his team might not have the experience in fighting monsters that some of the other Rangers here had, but what they'd seen so far was enough for him to know that random destruction was the norm for monsters, rather than the more strategic destruction that Voldemort and the Death Eaters had done in the past.

"This is just so much _fun_!" Lockmaster yelled, as he launched a burst of destructive power at a nearby merry-go-round, the innocents around it only just managing to get out of harm's way. "And the fact that those wimpy Power Rangers can't do anything to stop me-!"

Alan interrupted that statement by charging towards the monster, knocking him off-balance with a powerful kick before he leapt back to join his teammates, his Patronus Blade out in front of him.

"That's what _you _think," the local Red Ranger said, staring grimly at the monster as Lockmaster got back to his feet and turned to face the attacking Rangers.

"You attacked a bunch of innocent _kids_?" Nathan said, the Black Patronus Force Ranger glaring disdainfully at Lockmaster. "Not even Zedd went that low!"

"Too bad Zedd's not in charge any more!" Lockmaster countered, chuckling mockingly at them. "And, with cute little White Ranger destroyed -"

"_Wrong again_!" Amanda said, stepping forward to glare at Lockmaster; even without knowing either side of this conflict that well, Harry had to admit that he enjoyed the sight of Lockmaster's obvious shock as he took in the presence of the new addition to the team.

"_The White Ranger_?" Lockmaster screamed in shock, taking a step backwards at the sight of the figure that he obviously assumed was the same White Ranger he'd attacked earlier. "But... but _how_...?"

"Didn't your boss tell you?" Sean asked, nonchalantly crossing his arms. "This job is simply _full _of surprises."

"Which, in case you haven't noticed, includes a lot more than the addition of just one more new Ranger," Ginny added, obviously grinning under her helmet as she indicated the rest of the new Rangers standing around them.

"Well... it doesn't matter!" Lockmaster roared, aiming his weapon at the assembled teams before him. "I'll take _all _of you out of the picture!"

As he launched a wave of energy at the Rangers, the various teams only just managed to dive out of the path of the attack while Nimrod re-emerged from the keyhole in Lockmaster's chest, the Scarlet Sentinel quickly summoning AC and DC back into existence.

"Nimrod," Lockmaster ordered the female monster, "attack another section of the park!"

"Tom- uh, Doctor Oliver," Alan said, glancing over at the Black Dino Thunder Ranger as the teams regrouped while Nimrod and her followers began to head off in another direction, "you were the one who defeated Nimrod last time; could you... uh...?"

"Handle it again?" Tommy replied, smiling slightly at the other Ranger. "Don't worry about it; I've picked up a few tricks since then, and I'm fairly sure Connor and the others can pull out enough surprises to keep her on her toes as well."

"Meanwhile, I assume you want the rest of us to help you handle Lockmaster?" Hermione asked Alan.

"Hey, we're Rangers; there's no 'I' in team the last time I checked," Connor said, looking over at his fellow Red Rangers. "We've got our targets, so let's go!"

As their teammates charged after Nimrod, Harry was already moving into action to attack Lockmaster alongside Alan, the two Red Rangers drawing their weapons and lunging towards the lock monster, sending him staggering with the force of their simultaneous attacks before they leapt aside.

With Harry and Alan out of the way, the Black Rangers took up the attack, Sylvia launching a barrage of laser blasts at Lockmaster's face and chest before Nathan flipped over her to hit Lockmaster with his Patronus Axe, driving the monster onto one knee. Exploiting this new vulnerability, Ron and Elizabeth rolled into action, getting in close enough to their adversary for Ron to strike him in the exposed knee while Elizabeth's Patronus Daggers delivered a rapid series of slashes and stabs to the monster's chest. Before they could back away again, Lockmaster sent Ron sliding back along the grass before spinning around to strike Elizabeth in the chest with his key-shaped sword.

The odds against them could be better, but Harry knew that they could still win this; the only question was if they could last long enough to do so...

* * *

Even knowing that Nimrod was his responsibility, Connor couldn't help but initially feel like he was running out on his friends as he glanced back to watch his new associates struggling against Lockmaster, but that issue was forgotten and his priority quickly became Nimrod as the Dino Thunder Rangers finally reached the monster that had been Doctor O.'s first adversary as the White Ranger.

The thing about being a team and facing multiple opponents was that you couldn't choose who you ended up fighting against; sometimes, all you could do was take a target and trust in the rest of the team to hold their own without you.

"So, after all that, I only rate five newbies?" Nimrod asked, looking almost insulted as she turned to glare sceptically at her current opponents.

"Trust me; they're _more _than enough for you," Tommy said, his grip tightening on the Brachio Staff before he looked back at his particular Ranger protégé. "Conner, Nimrod's yours; everyone else, choose a partner and take one of the other two."

Nodding back at his mentor as he prepared his own Tyranno Staff, Connor quickly began to trade blows with Nimrod, leaving Kira and Ethan to battle AC while Trent and Doctor O. confronted DC, Kira's Ptera Grips and Doctor O.'s Brachio Staff neatly countering the monsters' swords while the other two Rangers each did what they could for their teammates. As Nimrod lunged and thrust with her weapon, Connor quickly found himself forced on the defensive, desperately using his staff to deflect the blows without any opportunity to launch his own attack.

"You're not bad, but you're _definitely _not up to the last Red Ranger's standard!" Nimrod said, glaring mockingly at Conner as they continued their improvised duel. "I'll finish you and-!"

Her words were cut short when her next thrust with her staff resulted in Connor twisting to the side and using his weapon to leap over hers, following the attack up as he landed by swinging around to strike Nimrod in the head with the staff before she could turn her own weapon against him.

"Word of advice," Conner said, smirking slightly as he drew his Thundermax sabre in gun mode and aimed it at Nimrod. "If you're going to fight someone," he began firing the gun as he spoke, "don't just _talk _all the time!"

Roaring in rage, Nimrod used her staff to deflect some of Conner's blast before she charged at him again, only for Conner to easily parry the increasingly-enraged monster's attacks with his staff before he shifted his sabre back into blade mode and launched into a virtual whirlwind of motion, both weapons serving to counter his opponent's attempt to strike back while giving him greater opportunities to strike her.

Taking a brief glance over at his teammates, Conner noted with some satisfaction that Kira had just managed to land a particularly painful-looking blow on AC's chest with both of her Ptera Grips, while Doctor O. was doing a pretty good job against DC using a strategy similar to his own, but Trent appeared to be having some trouble even if Ethan was holding his own by deflecting the attacks with his Tricera Shield; Trent was up too close to DC to use his energy arrows, and the Drago Dagger was too short to effectively block anything that DC might hit him with physically-

A kick to the face from Nimrod forced Conner's attention back to his own adversary, lashing out with the Tyranno Staff to strike her in the mid-section, following it up with a powerful retaliatory kick to her face that knocked Nimrod off-balance long enough for Conner to put her on the defensive once again.

She was tough, but he'd survived against the worst that Mesogog had to throw at them for almost a year; with that kind of background, he could _definitely _handle this thing...

* * *

With Ron and Elizabeth knocked aside, it fell to Jake and Hermione to take up the fight for their teams, Hermione quickly launching a barrage of spells at Lockmaster as Jake drew his own Patronus Lance, launching himself into a series of spins that sent Lockmaster to the ground once again.

"You ready to take care of business?" Sean asked his Guardian counterpart as he drew his wands.

"Time to show this thing why you _don't _mess with Rangers," Ginny said, readying her Guardian Blade. "Ready to make him pay for Luna?"

"I'm with you," Sean said, as he turned to face their foe. "Patronus Battle Tusks!"

As his wands turned into a pair of tusk-shaped battle clubs, Sean charged towards Lockmaster, the weapons gathering energy before striking their target with such force that Lockmaster was sent flying back, screaming in pain and rage. As Sean stepped back, he threw his arms out to allow Ginny to use his body as a springboard, the female Green Ranger throwing herself into the air before throwing herself towards Lockmaster, only to be forced to change direction mid-leap to avoid before skewered by Lockmaster's sword as he regained his balance.

"Heads up, ugly!" Jason yelled, charging forward to slash as Lockmaster with Saba before hurrying backwards once again, leaving Lockmaster open for Amanda to launch a flurry of magical arrows from the Patronus Bow that sent Lockmaster staggering.

"You did good, rookie," Jason said, giving the new White Ranger a congratulatory pat on the back.

"Like he said, you're doing great, sis," Alan said, the Red Ranger of this world nodding at his sister before he turned his attention back to the now-rising Lockmaster.

"Oh, come _on_!" Ron groaned in frustration. "Doesn't this guy take a _break_?"

"I think it's time to hit him hard," Alan said, looking over at his teammates. "Form the Patronus Blaster!"

Looking over at the new Rangers, Jason smiled slightly at the sight of the group of Rangers tossing their weapons together to form the Power Blaster formation that he'd grown so used to putting together when he was in his prime as Earth's first Red Ranger; the only real difference was that this team included the Green Ranger's 'Battle Tusks' on the tips of the Patronus Bow segments of the blaster. Following their counterparts' cue, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione took up position alongside each other and aimed their wands at Lockmaster, leaving Jason and Sylvia to draw their own long-range weapons and focus on their target.

"_EXPULSO_!" the magical Guardians yelled.

"Patronus Blaster- FIRE!" the Patronus Force added.

The combined force of all the blasts of power being aimed towards him virtually engulfed Lockmaster in a burst of multicoloured light, culminating in an explosion that engulfed the monster's body and obscured him from view.

"_That _got him!" Ron loudly cheered as the explosion died away.

"Uh... apparently not," Jake said, his voice cutting off the celebration as the team turned to face his direction and saw Lockmaster stumbling out of the dust and smoke stirred up by their last attack, dented and moving slower than before but clearly still alive, its eye narrowed with anger as it glared at the two Ranger teams before him.

"Did you think you could get rid of me _that _easily?" the monster demanded, its weakened voice demonstrating that they'd made more of an impact on Lockmaster than the thing before them cared to acknowledge. "I'm _far _too powerful for you!"

Before any of them could respond to that statement, Lockmaster raised his sword in the air, bolts of lightning-like energy bursting from the blade to envelop the monster's body, leaving the Rangers with nothing else to do but watch as the creature grew in size to tower over the buildings surrounding the park.

"And the fun continues..." Nathan snarled in frustration.

"And _we _don't even have our zords!" Ginny yelled.

"But we have Jason and Sylvia's," Alan said, before he activated his communicator. "Billy, we've got _big _trouble here; do you have the Zord interfaces up yet?"

"_I've reactivated the interfaces of the Guardian Zords in our possession_," Billy replied grimly, "_but Ivan's surrounded the Zord hangars with an even tougher version of the barrier he used on the park; I've got the command centre's systems working on how to penetrate it, but until I do, the Patronus Zords and Guardian Zords are unavailable_."

"_WHAT_?" Ron yelled, looking incredulously at the Red Patronus Ranger before they had to dive out of the way of the creature's foot. "You mean we're-!"

"Down to our secret weapon," Amanda interrupted, briefly glaring at Ron before she smiled over at Alan. "Alan, you have to call the Werewolf Battlezord using the Battle Gauntlet; the command is '_Werewolf Battlezord- Power Up_'!"

"Understood!" Alan called back.

"Hey, Billy!" Jason yelled as he activated his own communicator (Harry assumed that Jason had already ensured that he could reach this command centre on the frequencies he was using). "How are Tommy and the Dinos holding up?"

"_So far Nimrod and her goons haven't grown yet and Tommy's team is really giving it to them_," Billy replied. "_I'll let you know if that changes, but it's unlikely_."

"Right," Alan said, raising his communicator to his face. "Time to call-"

"The only thing that you be calling out are your screams for mercy, Red Ranger!" a shockingly familiar voice yelled; spinning around, Harry wasn't entirely surprised to see this world's version of Goldar standing alongside a skeleton-like creature that he thought might be Rito from some of Jason's stories, as well as a large group of purple things.

* * *

"Alan," Jason said, looking over at the other Red Ranger, "you take care of Lockmaster; we'll handle these goons!"

As he charged into battle alongside his teammates- resisting the temptation to glance back as he heard a howl that could only be Alan's new zord; this wasn't the time to admire what the new guys were piloting-, a part of him had to admit that he was almost looking forward to this; with the confusion about how the Goldar of their world had come back to life after the Countdown still bothering him, it was slightly refreshing to be facing a Goldar who was just there rather than one whose presence was a complete anomaly. While Jason confronted Goldar, Hermione and Nathan found themselves facing Rito, leaving the rest of the team to worry about the attacking Ooze-Men.

"You picked a _really _bad time to show up, Goldar!" Jason said, shifting into his familiar combat stance as he glared at his rival, only to be unnerved when Goldar smiled as he took in his current opponent.

"It has been a long time, Jason, but do not assume that a change in costume can fool me about who you are!" Goldar said, grinning in his usual unnerving manner as he drew his sword. "I have been looking forward to the chance to face you again!"

"I'm not the person I was last time we fought, Goldar," Jason said, drawing Saba and glaring at his enemy. "If you want a fight, you've got one!"

Lunging towards Goldar, Jason started off with a quick kick before shifting his focus to slash at the golden-armoured titan with Tommy's old sword, Goldar only just managing to parry the blow with his own weapon. For a moment, Goldar's eyes widened in surprise as he registered the nature of the sword in Jason's hands, but surprise was forgotten as the fight continued, sword blows alternating with kicks and punches; Jason was particularly satisfied when Goldar's attempt to catch his punch, unlike when Goldar had attempted that stunt against Jason while unmorphed, only resulted in Goldar being knocked off-balance by the force of Jason's counter-attack.

Leaping back from Goldar's latest attack, Jason took a quick glance at his surroundings, and was pleased to note that his teammates seemed to be coping; the Patronus Force and the Hogwarts Guardians were handling the Ooze-Men fairly well, Blasting hexes flying through the air alongside shots from Sylvia's pistol, while Rito found himself faced with a rapidly-shifting range of opponents, two Rangers confronting him at once before withdrawing to allow another two to battle him, preventing him from adapting to their strategies while also keeping him guessing.

"So, Jason," Goldar said, smirking in satisfaction as the two strained against the other's blades, "what brings you back into the game in Tommy's new colours?"

"They called and I answered; all you need to know, Goldar," Jason countered, staring firmly at his enemy before he swung his sword in a circular manoeuvre, sending Goldar's blade off to the side and leaving him exposed to a powerful kick to the chest.

Even the sound of the battle between Alan's new zord and the giant Lockmaster above them couldn't distract Jason from his current objective; he was fighting Goldar, and he was _going _to finish this.

* * *

Looking over at the location where his fellow Rangers in their temporarily-expanded team were fighting Lockmaster, Conner was only slightly surprised to see Lockmaster had grown larger and was currently fighting with a large red and silver zord that looked a bit like a humanoid-esque wolf; the zord didn't match anything that they'd dug up in their research on these new guys, but that could just mean that they were bringing out something new.

Focusing his attention back on the battle with Nimrod- he'd seen and read enough about the Patronus Force to be sure that they could handle this problem-, Conner continued his duel with Nimrod, deflecting her latest attempt to strike him in the head, only to be cut short when Nimrod suddenly let out a scream of agony before he could even touch her. Noting another scream coming from behind him, Conner turned around just in time to see the massive form of Lockmaster being attacked by the new zord, its jaws digging into Lockmaster's arm and some kind of energy spreading from its teeth into Lockmaster's body.

"These things are connected to Lockmaster?" Kira said, looking in surprise at their now-writhing opponents and the equally-agonised monster.

"Looks like it," Doctor O. said, sounding like he was smiling under his helmet. "I'll bet Ooze didn't see _this _coming..."

Even as they watched the struggle before them, the monster and the zord parted as the zord shifted into a Megazord formation- its legs shifting as it transformed into a humanoid form in a manner that reminded Conner of video footage he'd seen of the Tigerzord that Doctor O. had originally used as the White Ranger-, subsequently lunging forward with its sword, the resulting blast destroying Lockmaster in a blaze of fire, followed almost immediately by a scream of agony from Nimrod as AC and DC vanished, Nimrod herself briefly reverting back to the statue that she had been created from before returning to her original location.

"Whoa..." Ethan said, smiling over at his teammates. "At least _that's _over with."

"You can say that again," Doctor O. said, nodding in approval at his team. "Come on; let's go and see how the others are holding up."

* * *

Looking back, Harry and the others would always consider it the most abrupt end to a fight that they'd ever experienced. While the Ooze-Men were down to their last few members, Rito and Goldar had still been putting up a fair fight, and even the remaining Ooze-Men had apparently 'learned' enough to avoid the worst of the Rangers' attacks, but suddenly the sound of Lockmaster exploding drew the other Rangers' attentions momentarily away from their immediate opponents to observe Alan's victory, only for them to turn back and find that the Ooze-Men and Rito had vanished, leaving only Goldar to grin resolutely at Jason.

"Your skills have improved, but you are still no match for my new master, Jason!" the villain said, a sense of satisfaction about his stance as he glared at his opponent. "I shall enjoy the chance to finish you again!"

With that, he held one hand to his chest and vanished in a blaze of fire, leaving the other Rangers to look at each other in confusion before Tommy's team hurried up to join them.

"Everyone all right?" Tommy asked, looking between his colleagues.

"Took a bit of effort, but nothing we couldn't handle," Sylvia said, smiling over at her colour-predecessor. "I take it Nimrod's gone?"

"Blew up at the same time that Lockmaster went down," Ethan said with a shrug.

"Talking of which," Ron said, looking slightly incredulously over at Amanda, "are you seriously telling us that you _built _that thing?"

"I had a little help putting the Battlewolf Megazord together, but basically, yeah," Amanda said, shrugging as she looked up at the large zord standing over them.

"I'm just glad that it worked; I wasn't exactly expecting that I'd have to test it under fire when it was the _only _option available."

"You never do," Tommy said with a slight shrug. "I had a similar experience back in my world; this new monster, Main Drain, had just trashed our current Megazord, and the only option was this new zord called the Red Battlezord which relied heavily on me retaining a personal clarity and focus that I wasn't sure I possessed at the time..."

"Well, whatever its origin, it took care of Lockmaster; that's the main thing," Harry said, smiling over at his friends as they all powered down, grinning at each other as Alan walked over to join them.

"I take it you all had fun?" he asked with a casual grin.

"As much as ever; you know how it is," Nathan said nonchalantly.

"Good job with Lockmaster, by the way," Ethan added with a grin. "Looks like she and Lockmaster were linked; you took that guy out, and you took out Nimrod at the same time."

"Too bad that doesn't solve _all _our problems..." Jason said, shaking his head as he looked sombrely at the rest of the teams. "We won this round, but that Ivan Ooze is going to let us off that easily; I have a feeling that, whatever he has planned, it's going to make today look tame."

"Jase, you're ruining my good mood!" Nathan groaned.

"And you Rangers have already ruined _mine_!" another voice said, prompting the team to leap to their feet and turn to face the source of the voice, none of them being surprised to find themselves facing the distinctive purple form of Ivan Ooze, the teams shifting into a combat stance as they glared at him.

"You sure have a lot of balls coming here!" Alan practically hissed at the morphological being. "What do you want, Ooze?"

"Naughty, naughty, Red Ranger," Ivan said, waving an index finger mockingly at the resident Red Ranger of this reality. "Such language from one your age... that's the problem with teenagers other than their odious stench; they have absolutely no manners _whatsoever_!"

"Trust us; our manners are going to be the _least _of your worries once we're through with you!" Conner practically growled at the powerful creature before them.

"Ah yes, the typically hot-headed response of the Red Ranger," Ivan said, smirking briefly at Conner before his eyes narrowed as he glared at the group. "But, to answer your original question..."

Before any of the Rangers could make a move, Ooze made a complicated hand gesture and Jason was yanked off his feet, the White Guardian Ranger barely having time to yell in surprise before he landed on the ground in front of Ivan.

"_Jason_!" Harry and Tommy yelled, the Rangers almost instinctively moving to morph before another gesture from Ivan suddenly rendered them all immobile, unable to do anything more than watch as Ivan grabbed Jason by the throat and forced his new prisoner to his feet.

"You know," Ivan said, shrugging as though he was discussing nothing more important than the weather, "I could very easily kill all of you while you're looking like statues in an art gallery; but _that _would ruin all of my fun! For the moment, all you need to know is that, if you want Lizard-Boy here back, you should ensure that your predecessors are back in Angel Grove before three days are up, otherwise..."

He shrugged nonchalantly before his gaze focused on Alan. "Oh, and just so you know, Red Ranger, I'll also be ensuring your cooperation with the assistance of a certain... _pretty_... someone..."

With that, Ivan and Jason vanished in a burst of purple, leaving the now-once-again mobile Rangers to simply stare in shock at the location where their friend, mentor and teammate had been only moments ago.

_Crap_, Harry thought to himself.

And he'd thought that _Voldemort _was bad; at least the guy actually _tried _tokill you when the chance was available, rather than let you live just because he implied that he had something worse planned...


	42. Meeting His Mother

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Sitting around the command centre, Harry wished that he could just punch something for once; he might have been dealing with Voldemort for the last few years, but he'd never resorted to abducting Harry's friends before (Ginny being used by the diary didn't count as Lucius had chosen her as the target due to her father than anything to do with _him_), and now here he was, dealing with a deranged lunatic who'd abducted the first person since Sirius who'd really felt like an older brother figure...

As Ginny reached over to take his hand, Harry allowed himself to receive a comforting squeeze before he glanced around the room at the others; Billy and Alpha were still running a search, leaving Tommy to exchange apprehensive glances with Ron and Hermione while Sylvia sat awkwardly with the Dino Thunder Rangers (Not that Harry could blame her; he and the other 'original' Guardians had spent a lot of time working with Jason as he 'showed them the ropes', and Tommy had been there in the very beginning of Jason's Ranger career, but the Dino Thunder team had only heard stories about Jason from their Black Ranger, and Sylvia hadn't really been with them long enough to have formed any real kind of bond with Jason even if she had acquitted herself fairly well).

_God_, he wished that he could take a break; ever since this whole mess started, it felt like he and the others had just been so busy being on the move that they hadn't had time to stop. Honestly, their brief visits to the remains of their command centre back home were the closest that any of them had come to feeling like they had a permanent place of stability since they'd left Privet Drive after that Tenga attack so many months ago...

Looking over at Ginny, Harry leaned over to give her a brief, grateful kiss before he pulled back, smiling warmly at her.

"What?" Ginny asked, looking back at him with a slight smile.

"Just... thanks for being here," Harry said, smiling back at her.

He wasn't sure how he would have coped with things over the last few months if Ginny hadn't been one of the Rangers; the thought of trying to cope with this whole mess without her, Ron and Hermione alongside him seemed... well, stupid.

They might be stuck in another dimension, reliant on the good will of a bunch of strangers whose only connection to them was that they knew the versions of them who lived in this reality, with no Jason and no way of providing themselves somewhere to live for the foreseeable future, but they were at least all together...

The sound of the computer beeping drew Harry's attention back to the present, the various teams looking over at Billy Cranston as he examined the scanner's findings before sighing in disappointment as he looked up at the others.

"What is it, Billy?" Tommy asked.

"Well," Billy replied, his features grim, "I'm pretty sure that Jason was taken to Zedd's moon palace, but Ivan's erected an even _stronger _force field around it than he did the park and Zord hangars; even if we could bring it down, there's no way we can get through it without alerting Ivan."

"Hey, I only just _started _being a Ranger; I am _not _going to lose one of the oldest Rangers ever in my first week-!" Sylvia began, glaring indignantly at the original Blue Ranger.

"It's not a question of not _wanting _to get Jason out, it's a question of practicality; if we attack right now, all we can do is risk Ivan moving Jason somewhere where we won't be able to recover him," Alan said, looking firmly over at the Black Guardian Ranger. "As much as I hate to say this, it might be in Jason's best interest that we wait until we find a way to get around that barrier _without _alerting Ivan."

"I MUST AGREE WITH YOUR ASSESSMENT, ALAN," Zordon said from his energy tube. "FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCE WITH IVAN OOZE, I KNOW FIRST-HAND OF HIS CUNNING AND HIS ABILITY TO LEARN FROM HIS OWN MISTAKES. HE WILL BE SEEKING INFORMATION CONCERNING THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF YOUR VARIOUS TEAMS, AND IT IS FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE THAT I BELIEVE HE ABDUCTED JASON."

"Yeah, on that topic, what's his deal with us?" Conner asked, looking quizzically at Zordon. "I mean, what does this guy _want _aside from the usual 'kill the Power Rangers to conquer the world' angle?"

"IN ADDITION TO RECLAIMING HIS LOST EMPIRE, HE WILL ALSO BE SEEKING REVENGE AGAINST THE PRESENT RANGERS TO AVENGE HIS PREVIOUS DEFEAT AT THE HANDS OF BILLY AND THE OTHER RANGERS," Zordon explained, pausing for a moment to allow them to process this information before he continued. "AS TO HOW HE INTENDS TO CARRY OUT HIS PLANS, WE CAN ONLY HOPE THAT JASON WILL BE ABLE TO USE HIS PRESENT SITUATION TO GATHER MORE INTELLIGENCE UNTIL WE ARE ABLE TO LOCATE A WEAK POINT IN IVAN'S DEFENCES AND RESCUE THE WHITE GUARDIAN RANGER."

"And judging from what he told Alan while we were immobilised," Hermione added, looking up from the console that she and Amanda had been studying- Harry wouldn't be surprised if Hermione had a few suggestions to make about the zords; Hermione's technical knowledge might be limited, but she definitely had some interesting ideas about magic-, "it sounded like he was planning to abduct someone else... someone _female, _if the words he used are any indication."

"He also said that it would be someone close to me," Alan added, his expression as he nodded at the memory. "And, since he could have taken both Amanda and Elizabeth at the same time he took Jason, I'll have to assume that Ivan was referring to someone else."

"But _who_?" Amanda asked, looking anxiously at her brother. "The only 'she' we're close to who isn't here is either Mum or Aunt Lilly!"

Harry tried to resist the start he felt at that reference to his mother; no matter how he longed to see her, this wasn't 'his' Lily Potter...

"I HAVE ALSO CONSIDERED THOSE TWO POSSIBILITIES, RANGERS," Zordon said, looking grimly over at Alan and Amanda. "WHILE I MUST AGREE THAT THEY WOULD BE THE LOGICAL CHOICES, WE MUST KEEP IN MIND THAT IVAN IS NOT ONLY EVIL, BUT ALSO UNPREDICTABLE; HE WILL CHANGE THE GAME AT LITTLE NOTICE IF HE FEELS THAT IT WILL BENEFIT HIM."

"OK, Zordon," Tommy said, nodding briefly at the ancient alien wizard who had taught him so much when he had been so lost after his release from Rita's spell. "So... what do we do?"

"FOR NOW, THERE IS NOTHING THAT WE CAN DO BUT WAIT," Zordon said, looking apologetically at the group around them. "FOR NOW, IT IS BECOMING LATE, AND I SUGGEST THAT EACH OF YOU RETURN TO YOUR HOMES AND REST; ALPHA AND I WILL CONTINUE TO SCAN THE BARRIER AROUND ZEDD'S PALACE AND WILL NOTIFY YOU SHOULD WE DISCOVER A WEAKNESS IN IVAN'S DEFENCES."

"But-" Ron began to protest.

"Zordon's right," Tommy said, looking firmly over at the male Yellow Ranger. "If we're going to get anywhere in rescuing Jason and recovering your zords, we need to be at our best."

"Talking of being at our best," Elizabeth said, hopping off the table where she was sitting and walking over to the main console, "there's something I need to do... Harry, could you give me a hand here?"

Exchanging a confused glance with Ginny, Harry shrugged slightly and walked over to join the Patronus Force Yellow Ranger as she turned to examine the console, only to be rendered literally breathless when Elizabeth suddenly rammed her elbow into his mid-section, forcing the air from his lungs as his head struck the console from the sheer force of the impact. He vaguely registered Elizabeth yelling something about needing his help to save a life before he found himself surrounded by some kind of red energy...

* * *

As the energy faded, Harry found himself standing in a street in a suburban-looking neighbourhood, Elizabeth tugging on his arm even as he fought to get his breath back, dragging him towards a nearby house with a disturbingly single-minded expression; if it hadn't been for the fact that she'd been perfectly casually conversing with some of the other Rangers before she did this, Harry might have wondered if she'd been put under the Imperius curse or something like that.

"'Lizbeth..." he gasped, fighting to get his breath back as he looked at her in confusion. "What... idea...?"

"Look, I'm sorry I was so abrupt, but I need your help," Elizabeth said, looking resolutely at him as they came to a halt in front of a particular house in the street. "Just give me a bit of time to think of a good explanation for this, and-"

"Explanation... for _what_?" Harry said, glaring in frustration at his other self's sister as he fought to get his breath back, taking a few quick, deep breaths before he continued speaking. "Look, I get that you're _biologically _my sister, but we didn't grow up together; you can't just yank me about-"

"I told you, I need your help to save another life!" Elizabeth said, staring urgently at Harry even as her eyes briefly flicked to examine the drive of the house they were standing in front of; glancing over his shoulder, Harry noticed a convertible in the drive, but that didn't answer-

"Hold on a minute," Harry said, his eyes suddenly falling on the mailbox in front of the house- people actually _used _those thing?-, only to widen in shock as he read the name on the side.

_Potter_.

"This... is this where you live?" he said, looking at her incredulously as he automatically lowered his voice. "Elizabeth, I can't _be _here; what about _your_-?"

Harry was interrupted by a sudden popping sound, the two of them glancing over to see Alan appear on the street a short distance up the road before he hurried over to join them.

"Elizabeth, _what _do you think you're _doing_?" Alan said, glaring at the local Yellow Ranger while he spoke in a hushed whisper. "You can't bring Harry here; what if your mom sees him?"

"_That's _the point!" Elizabeth retorted. "I _want _Mum to see him! She's been working herself to death since Harry vanished; if she can just see he's safe-!"

"And then what am I supposed to do?" Harry protested, glaring at her in frustration, trying not to think about the part of him that wanted to go along with her plan; this whole dimension-hopping mess was complicated enough without bringing something like this into the equation. "Look, I get that things are... difficult... here, but I'm not just going to take your Harry's place just because he's gone missing; I have people and responsibilities back home-!"

"Damnit, I'm not going to let my mother _die_!" Elizabeth yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders and glaring directly at him. "I _know _this is more than a bit desperate, but-"

"No, we passed desperate a while ago; _this _is as stupid as Hermione going to the Slug Club with Cormac McLaggen!" Harry said, ignoring the confused expressions on the other two Rangers' faces at that analogy as he stepped back from Elizabeth's grip, taking a moment to calm himself amid their confusion before he continued to speak. "Look, I'm sorry that your Harry's missing, but I don't think that _this _is going to-"

The sound of a sudden crash nearby cut Harry off mid-sentence, prompting him, Alan and Elizabeth to turn and look for the source of the sudden noise, Harry's blood immediately running cold at the sight.

Lily Potter.

Alive and... admittedly, 'well' was probably an exaggeration- she looked a lot thinner than she did in any of the photos Harry had of her back home, and there was a haggard expression about her, as though she hadn't been sleeping well-, but alive was still a definite step-up from anything that Harry had seen of her in his world, a bag of rubbish lying forgotten on the ground where it had apparently slipped from her hands as soon as she caught sight of him.

"Harry?" his mother- logic and rationality could try all they want to remind him that this wasn't _his _mother, but those things could be damned when faced with the reality of Lilly Potter standing in front of him- said, her voice a low whisper even as the shock on her face spoke volumes.

"Mum?" Harry replied, near-helpless to resist the temptation even as he vaguely heard Alan swear beside him.

Before Alan or Elizabeth could do anything, Lilly had practically raced across the distance between them to grab Harry in her arms, holding him to her in an almost bone-crushing hug that rivalled anything he'd ever received from Molly Weasley. For a moment Harry could only stand there in stunned immobility, his mind and body reeling in confusion and instinctive discomfort from the hug, but then, tentatively, his arms reached up and slowly wrapped themselves around Lilly, quickly tightening around her when she showed no sign of retreating.

_His mother_...

He knew that there were several other issues that he needed to remember- the fact that he wasn't technically _her _son, even if he was her son in other regards, was just the most prominent thing rather than the only one-, but for now, as his mother stepped back and began to take him towards the house, he couldn't help the grin on his face; he was about to spend time with his _mother_...

"Harry..." Lily said, her voice trembling as she stared at him as soon as the door was shut behind them- Alan and Elizabeth had apparently decided to leave them alone for this, which Harry was both grateful and frustrated at; he was glad to have the chance to be alone right now, but that would just make it harder to know what to say-, "what... what _happened_? Where have... where have you _been_?"

"I... I don't know," Harry said, swallowing slightly as he hoped the vague excuse he and Ginny had used for Alan earlier would pay off here; at least he had a bit more of his background in this world to go on now compared to what he had been working with back then. "I... well, I know that something happened... something bad... but... I just... well, it's all bit of a blank, really."

"A blank?" Lily repeated, looking at him in sudden apprehension. "You mean-"

"I still know _who _people are, I just... seem to be missing some details; where I've been since I vanished, some stuff about my time at Hogwarts..." Harry said, shrugging awkwardly as he looked at her; hopefully that explanation would cover his knowledge of the past so long as there weren't too many other new faces at Hogwarts. "I know it _happened_, but some stuff's all a big blur..."

"Oh, _Harry_..." Lily said, hugging him to her once again, her body trembling as she buried her face in his hair; Harry thought he felt a brief sensation of dampness, as though she was crying, but that feeling was only a vague one, and it swiftly passed as Lily stepped back, smiling awkwardly at him.

"Anyway, that's not important right now; what matters is that you're _here_," she said, grinning at him with a simple warmth of affection that Harry could only recall receiving from the Weasleys back in his own world. "Just let me call work to get the day off- good thing I've built up enough vacation time over the last few months-, and we can have something to eat- you haven't eaten yet, have you?"

"Uh... no, it's been a bit... well, it's been complicated..." Harry said, shrugging awkwardly, feeling the inadequacy of his lie with every word he spoke.

He didn't _want _to worry his mother- even if she wasn't technically 'his' mum-, but now that he was here, thanks to Elizabeth's effort, there wasn't much else that he could do apart from go along with her impulsive 'plan' and hope that he didn't say anything that would make it clear to Lily that he wasn't the version of her son that she knew.

But still... the way she'd mentioned the vacation time she'd been building up... what Elizabeth had said about her working herself to death since the other him had vanished...

And then, in the end, no matter how much rational thinking argued that he wasn't 'her' Harry, he couldn't turn down this chance, no matter how weird and complicated it was, to spend time with his mother.

He could worry about the larger issues later; right now, he just wanted to be able to spend a _little _time with at least one of his parents before the next wave of monsters struck, no matter how strange the circumstances of their meeting were...

* * *

As he was forcibly dragged into the chair that put him uncomfortably in mind of the chair that Gasket and Archerina had used when brainwashing Tommy- _damn_, that experience had sucked; even when he'd been the Green Ranger, at least they hadn't known who they were dealing with most of the time and been able to focus on him as an enemy rather than worry about what he could be-, Jason wished that the purple freak that was certainly Ivan Ooze would stop grinning so much; one little victory and the bastard was acting like he'd already won, even when Jason fought with everything he had to stop these ooze-things strapping him down into the chair in question.

It would have been less frustrating if the chair didn't evoke disturbing images of what Ivan might be about to do to him...

"Well, well..." Ivan said, smiling smoothly at Jason as though they were simply engaging in casual conversation. "You should consider yourself honoured, White Ranger. You're going to provide me with the perfect weapon that I need to kill your fellow Rangers."

"Head back to the slime pit you crawled out of, Ooze," Jason spat back in response, trying to focus on the memory of the aftermath of his past experiences as a victim of brainwashing rather than the preceding moments; what he'd nearly done under Maligore's influence was bad enough as far as he was concerned. "You're _dreaming _if you think I'm going to help you hurt my friends; they'll undo anything you do to me-!"

"You think I plan to make you into one of my warriors?" Ivan said, chuckling as though he'd just heard an amusing joke. "I already have all but one of my chosen warriors, and the other will be in my hands soon enough; all that I want from _you _is information on the strengths and weaknesses of these new Rangers-"

"And you're _completely _off your head if you think I'll give you _that _kind of information!" Jason said, wishing that he was as confident as he sounded; the stories he'd heard from Harry about Voldemort's ability to read minds weren't exactly encouraging...

"Oh, you'll give it to me," Ivan said, leaning so far forward that Jason almost felt like he should be able to see the individual bits of slime that made up Ivan's body. "Thanks to this little thing, you won't have a choice!"

With that, Ivan reached up and grabbed the helmet-like device at the top of the chair, lowering it down so that it covered the upper half of Jason's head, leaving him staring at nothing but blackness even if he could still hear what was happening outside.

"With the combination of the knowledge that you're going to provide me with," Ivan said- Jason thought he heard something that sounded like switches being activated, but the purple guy's voice made it hard to be sure-, "the monster I will soon activate, and my Dark Rangers, your Ranger friends will be space dust!"

"I wouldn't count your chickens yet, Ooze," a voice that Jason immediately recognised as Lord Zedd said from somewhere off to the side. "Those Patronus Force Rangers are just as resourceful as their predecessors, particularly that Red Ranger of theirs!"

"Zeddy," Ivan said, chuckling as he spoke in a manner that did little to comfort Jason, "during my period of imprisonment outside the normal flow of time, I was able to do an extensive study of Earth's magical population and you will find it most interesting to discover that there is more to the Red Ranger's family than you would think."

"Oh, _really_?" Zedd growled, clearly unconvinced. "And _what _in the name of the Dark Galaxy could be so _interesting _about Alan's family?"

"Other than the fact that his family is one of the wealthiest and most influential magical families on Earth?" Ooze countered, his tone reflecting the usual self-satisfaction of a villain who was certain he'd planned for everything. "Let's just say that there's more to them than even you would believe... and while we are on _this _particular subject..."

There was a brief rustle of fabric, as though something was being moved from among folds of clothing, and then Ivan spoke again. "Keep an eye on the Power Rangers. The moment this girl shows herself, I want you to have her captured and brought to me."

"And what significance could this... _girl_... have to us?" Zedd asked, clearly suspicious at Ivan's request (Jason wished that he could try and exploit that apparent internal division between the two villains, but he didn't know enough about Ooze to have any idea what would work and it wasn't like psychological warfare was a strength of his anyway).

"She will be returning to Angel Grove some time tomorrow for the Christmas holidays, and is my chosen subject for the sixth Dark Ranger," Ooze snapped back at Zedd. "Once she is in my possession, the Dark Rangers will finally be ready for deployment! Now get going and tell that simian simpleton of yours not to mess _this _assignment up like he has all of the others!"

A rapidly-fading growl suggested that Zedd was leaving the room, but Jason didn't have time to try and take advantage of that before Ivan was addressing him once again, the bonds holding him to the chair showing no signs of breaking despite his best efforts.

"Well now, my little friend," Ivan said, his tone insufferably smug, "let's find out what's in that noggin of yours!"

Jason thought he heard Ivan say something else, but then Ivan must have activated the chair, because he was left screaming in pain as he felt his memories being shifted through like someone was trying to find a particular page in a book, leaving him with nothing more to do than desperately try to keep some things shut even as he knew the chances of him succeeding in this goal were slim at best...

_God_, this _hurt_...!


	43. The Mother He Shouldn't Have

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As she sat on the steps of two-storey cabin-style house that served as Alan Black's home, Hermione almost wished that she was in a mood to enjoy this situation better; the house's hilltop status gave it a very nice view of Angel Grove as a whole, to say nothing of its large porch and upstairs balcony...

As it was, however, she didn't have the opportunity to enjoy it, given that she was stuck in another reality with over half of her team's zords- including her own- having been stolen, their Ranger mentor abducted and their team leader currently MIA; as much as she wanted to relax, it wasn't exactly as easy for her to find ways to keep herself occupied as it was for the others. Ron was currently engaged in a simple passing game with Conner, Ethan and Trent while Sylvia stood on the edge of the garden with Sean, Jake and Nathan, the Black Guardian Ranger leading the other three Patronus Force Rangers in a smooth-looking practice motion that Hermione vaguely recognised from some of their old combat lessons as Tai Chi focusing exercises (Although she noted with some amusement that Nathan seemed to be having some trouble with the motions; from what she'd seen of the Black Patronus Force Ranger, he favoured a more head-on combat style than the others). Meanwhile, Tommy and Ginny were sitting quietly on the porch swing, a troubled expression on each of their minds as they stared out at the scene before them, each of them clearly focused on the thoughts of the two currently-missing Guardian Rangers, Tommy obviously worrying about Jason while Ginny contemplated what might be happening to Harry.

Quite frankly, even after Amanda had provided some background information about why Elizabeth had taken Harry, Hermione was just frustrated that this world's Yellow Ranger had taken such a drastic action without asking anyone else for advice. As much as she recognised that Lily Potter probably needed drastic help based on what the Patronus Force had told them about her condition since this world's Harry had vanished, Hermione had serious doubts about the merits of that strategy in the long term; after all, even if they couldn't go right now, Harry would have to go back to his world with them once they'd recovered the Guardian Megazord, and if they hadn't found this world's Harry by then...

It wasn't that she didn't think that Harry would decide not to come back with them when the time came for him to make a choice; she just didn't want this world's Lily to have to suffer the loss of her son all over again when he had to leave.

Trying to take her mind off that particularly depressing train of thought, Hermione turned her attention to the copy of _The American Spellbinder_ that Amanda had loaned her, the newspaper being apparently the American wizard equivalent of the _Daily Prophet_. Intrigued at the headline article of _Decision final! America, Australia, and Japan to resign I.C.W. membership!_, Hermione had quickly begun perusing the article, and managed to piece together some interesting additional details about wizarding history in this world compared to what she knew.

Based on the article, while the Ministry in her world had been able to keep Voldemort relatively contained to Britain- made easier by his focus on claiming the country that was essentially the origin of magic, given that Merlin remained the earliest-recorded wizard in society who couldn't have just been a con-man or something like that (Some argued that Jesus and other Christian prophets might have been wizards, but generally wizards tended to stay away from Christianity, even if a few early wizards had adapted some of the religion's teachings into a policy of protecting muggles from Dark Wizards)-, this world's Voldemort had decided to expand further, leading his followers in a campaign that was somehow directed from his cell in Azkaban during the period when he was held captive after his failed attempt to kill all three Potters. The resulting expansion of Voldemort's influence to recruit dark creatures from other countries had required the International Confederation of Wizards- better known as the ICW- to take a more active role in the fight against Voldemort than they had in her world, with the result that the ICW essentially had more power over foreign wizarding affairs than it did back home, where it was more of a casual meeting of various wizarding powers rather than anything more elaborate.

Based on this article, American wizards were requesting to withdraw from the ICW so that the American Department of Magic could develop their space exploration program, as well as allowing the American magical education system to follow its own path rather than the path defined by the ICW. Apparently, the number of American wizards killed fighting Voldemort had put a greater strain on America's wizarding population, increasing the tension between the 'colony' countries, such as America and Australia, and the 'original' countries in Europe, leaving the magical governments of the colonies increasing frustrated with the new control imposed over them by the Global Ministry and the restrictions placed on their ability to grow alongside their non-magical brethren.

_God_... Hermione thought to herself, shaking her head as she closed the paper. _And I thought that things were difficult back home_...

Turning her attention to where Amanda was sitting beside her, Hermione smiled slightly as she saw the White Ranger idly studying the notebook that she'd shown her earlier. During their time at the command centre, Hermione had mentioned the team's past encounter with Wes and Eric, suggesting that Amanda upgrade the Battle Gauntlet she'd given Alan to summon a full suit of battle armour rather than the more basic upgrades it offered so far, Amanda suggesting in return that she could look into developing something similar for Harry, as well as possibly making some alterations to the original Guardian Megazord so that it could use magic the same way that the Patronus Megazord could. So far, Amanda's plans to take that possibility further were limited to drawings on paper- she couldn't do anything with the Megazords until she got an actual look at their systems, and she had said that she'd prefer to have the chance to directly analyse Harry's Guardian Gem rather than try and get a basic idea about the nature of its power by analysing and comparing the energy in the other Gems-, but the fact that it might be a possibility in the first place was something that had definitely captured Hermione's attention...

The sound of a motorcycle approaching them drew Hermione's thoughts away from such speculation and back to the present as she glanced up, in time to see Alan pulling into the driveway on a red and black Road Racer.

"Alan!" Ginny yelled, getting to her feet and hurrying over to the Ranger in question as he shut the engine off and removed his helmet. "Is Harry all right?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Alan said, his voice clearly reflecting his exhaustion at the activity of the last few days. "He's a bit shell-shocked after Elizabeth's little ambush, of course, but so far he should be all right for the time being."

"Uh... not meaning to be a killjoy in this whole situation," Conner said, looking uncertainly at his fellow Red, "but won't Lily work out that the Harry that's with her now isn't... well, _her _Harry?"

"Only if Elizabeth forgets to feed him the right information," Alan said with a shrug as he dismounted his bike and rolled it into the nearest garage.

"And... she'll be able to do that?" Ron asked, looking sceptically at Alan as he rolled his bike past another car. "I mean, this isn't exactly the kind of situation anyone can _plan _for; how's she-?"

"One step at a time, OK, Ron?" Alan said, looking firmly back at the Yellow Ranger as he positioned the bike against the garage wall and turned back to look at the other man as he indicated a few metal boxes off to the side. "Right now, the first thing we need to do is get everyone somewhere to sleep; I don't have enough room for everyone in the house, so some of you will have to sleep inside these tents. After the sleeping arrangements are done, I'll go back into town and get us all something to eat; we can work on some ideas on how to get Jason and the Guardian Zords back tomorrow morning."

"I think I have one idea that might work," Amanda said, looking at her brother with a smile. "Just let me talk it over with Billy first; I want to be absolutely sure that there's even a _chance _that it'll work _before_I let you guys in on it."

"Y'know, considering that this is _our _team-" Ron began as he glared at the Red Patronus Force Ranger.

"And this is _their _world and enemy, Ron; I think we have to concede to their superior knowledge of the local situation," Hermione said, looking firmly at her teammate before she turned to look at Amanda. "Just so long as you understand that we're going to want our teammate and zords back the _moment _you have a plan that can work."

"Of course," Amanda said, nodding in confirmation at the Blue Guardian Ranger.

"Right," Alan said, looking between the Blue Guardian and White Patronus Force Rangers. "Now that we've got that sorted, let's get these tents set up before I pick up the pizzas. If three of you can help me out, we can set them up near the treeline over there.

"Who's in the tents and who gets outside?" Sylvia asked, looking inquiringly at the other Ranger.

"Well," Alan said, taking a quick glance at the other Rangers before he continued speaking, "since Jake and Nathan share a house in town and Sean has an apartment while Amanda lives with my mother, it'll just be myself, the remaining Guardian Rangers, and the Dinos. And since I have no intention of sleeping on the couch in my own house, I'm guessing that Hermione, Ginny, Sylvia, and Kira can stay in one tent while Ron, Connor, Trent, and Ethan can sleep in the other."

"Uh..." Kira said, looking uncertainly at the tent boxes. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but... aren't these tents a bit small for all of us?"

"Not these," Alan replied with a slight smile. "They're magical tents; they're set up in the same manner as a two-storey house-"

"With each one containing two bedrooms, two beds in each, a full bathroom and shower, along with a kitchen and a dining/living room, right?" Hermione said, smiling slightly over at Alan as he looked over at her. "I _do _read, you know."

"I can't imagine Hermione Granger doing anything but," Amanda said, smiling at the other Ranger.

"That's quite a package!" Ethan said, grinning as he looked at the boxes before glancing over at his team. "Maybe we should see about getting some of these tents to take back home with us!"

"I _did _think about getting some for our own mission, but then we received the Gems and training with them became more of an immediate priority..." Hermione said, shrugging slightly even as she looked hopefully at the other Red Ranger.

"I'll see about getting you a couple; I know a shop in upstate New York that specialises in magical tent-making," Alan said, nodding at the Blue Guardian Ranger before turning his attention back to the tent cases. "Well, let's get these things set up; Sean, you help me with this one, and Jake and Nathan can set up the other."

* * *

As he sat alongside Elizabeth in the living room, Harry wasn't sure what was throwing him off more about this situation; the Christmas tree in the corner- this dimension must be a few months out of sync with their own; it was still mid-summer back home-, or just the simple fact that he was in his _mother's_ house, listening to his mother singing along with Christmas carols as she prepared roast beef for dinner.

"Thanks for going along with this, Harry," Elizabeth said, smiling gratefully over at him. "Just you being here is helping my Mum recover."

"I'm still not sure if this was the right thing to do, Elizabeth," Harry said, looking grimly over at the other Ranger. "I mean, I'm... well, I want to help, but... look, I'm here because I might as well go along with it now that she's seen me, but that doesn't mean I think it was a good idea..."

"You don't exactly seem to be regretting it that much," Elizabeth pointed out.

Harry couldn't immediately respond to that statement; as much as he'd wanted to avoid this whole situation to avoid raising false hopes among the families of their counterparts, he couldn't deny that, even after Mrs Weasley had all but officially adopted him as her seventh son ever since he started regularly visiting the Burrow, there was still a part of him...

"Back on my world," he said at last, looking over at Elizabeth after making sure that Lily was far enough away not to hear what he was about to say, "I... my parents were killed by Voldemort when I was too young to even really remember them. My guardians were... well, I'd rather not think about it... and even if the Weasleys always accepted me like I was their own, I always wanted..."

He shrugged slightly as he indicated the kitchen. "Well, having her here might not be exactly what I was hoping for, but it's still the closest I'll ever come to getting my own family back."

Noting the suddenly pensive yet contemplative expression on Elizabeth's face, it didn't take Harry long to guess what she was thinking about; if he'd been alone when he was growing up, that suggested that either she'd never been conceived in his world, or she'd died with Lilly before she had developed far enough for anyone to know that Lilly was pregnant.

Personally, Harry was trying not to think too much about that particular issue; it was complicated enough trying to figure out how he was going to get through this meeting with Lilly without worrying about what might have happened to Elizabeth in his world (And that was before he started wondering about Adam and the other Rangers; did any of them exist back home?).

"Look," he said, shaking those grim thoughts away as he looked more firmly at Elizabeth, "it's not that I don't appreciate this chance, but... well, in the end, this situation only makes me realize just how much Voldemort has stolen from me; my parents, any siblings that I might have had, a normal childhood... and I'm going to do _everything _I can to make sure that he doesn't have the chance to do it to someone else."

He looked grimly over at Elizabeth. "The point is, even if I like getting to know... well, getting to know Mum now, what are you going to do when I have to go back home and you haven't managed to find _your _Harry?"

"God, you and Alan must be sharing a brain or something; he asked me that same question..." Elizabeth snorted in frustration. "I'd like to believe that we'll find our world's Harry alive along with the others; but if we don't, I'll just have to come up with a cover story."

"Harry! Elizabeth!" Lily suddenly called from her current location in the dining room. "Dinner's ready!"

"Coming, Mum!" Elizabeth said, before she looked over at Harry with a grin. "Race you to the table!"

With that, Elizabeth leapt to her feet and rushed towards the dining room, Harry close behind. Arriving in the dining room, the two teens found that the small round-shaped table was loaded with the finished roast beef, along with mashed potatoes and various bottles of soda, while the room itself was filled the enticing aroma emitting from the soon-to-be-consumed meal.

Harry was unable to stop a satisfied smile crossing his face at the sight; even among the Weasleys, he'd always felt as though the good meals he'd received with them were mainly available to him because he was there, even if Mrs Weasley had always given him extra portions.

Having someone do all this _exclusively _for him...

"Well?" Lily asked, walking in from the kitchen with a pot of green beans. "Are you two just going to stand there or are you going to be decent enough to help me eat all of this... and where's Alan; I thought he was going to be joining us?"

"Alan?" Elizabeth said, as she and Harry sat down. "Oh, he... wanted to spend some time with his cousin; he just got into town today."

"Which cousin's that?" Lily asked. "I mean, you know how many cousins Alan and Amanda have; honestly, I'm amazed that _anyone _can remember them all."

"It's Sean, Mum," Elizabeth clarified.

"Sean?" Lily asked, looking thoughtfully at them. "Isn't he the one who met you at the airport when you first got to Angel Grove?"

"Yeah, him and his sister Megan were the first people here when we arrived," Elizabeth said, smiling slightly at the memory. "Then, after that, we met Bulk and Skull in the school parking lot..."

"Yes," Lily said, laughing at the memory as she passed a plate of food to Harry before fixing Elizabeth's plate. "I've met those two myself; not the most competent, but there's something... sweet about them."

"So... how long will we be living in Angel Grove... Mum?" Harry asked, trying to think of questions that his counterpart would ask rather than the questions that _he _wanted to ask. "I'm not complaining about it- seems like a nice place-, but I'm just... curious."

"As long as we want," Lily said, smiling at her 'son'. "We're American citizens now. Despite having building-sized monsters wrecking the city once in a while, I love living here as much as your sister does. I just thank the heavens that we have those Power Rangers around."

"Good to know," Harry said, smiling briefly at her before lowering his head, suddenly uncertain how best to phrase the next question that had occurred to him. "Uh... if you've already told me this, I'm sorry, but... well, everything's still pretty much a blur..."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, sweetheart," Lily said, scolding him with a teasing tone in her voice that even Mrs Weasley had never used on him. "It's good that you're asking questions, and you can feel free to ask as many as you like."

"Well..." Harry said, pausing for a final moment to make sure he couldn't think of a better way to phrase this before continuing, "why did you move to Angel Grove? Why did we leave England?"

"Well," Lily said, sprinkling a light amount of salt onto her mashed potatoes in a manner that Harry recognised as an attempt to distract herself from the negative details of what she was thinking about. "We originally left on Dumbledore's orders, but now that I think about it, coming to the United States was the best decision; after dealing with Death Eaters for so many years..."

She sighed wistfully, pausing to stare at her food for a few moments before she turned her attention back to the current conversation. "I just... decided that we all needed to start new lives; lives that didn't include Dumbledore and the Order."

His mother sighed at the thought, clearly remembering the life that she had shared however briefly with James, but she shook her head as she looked back at him. "Is there anything else that you would like to know?"

"I can't think of anything," Harry said quietly. "Could we... talk about something else."

* * *

A couple of hours later, Harry found himself staring at his other self's bedroom, wishing he could allow himself to feel completely comfortable in this whole mess.

The last few hours talking with Lily and Elizabeth about the Potters' lives in Angel Grove had been interesting, ranging from Elizabeth's thoughts on the schooling she was receiving at Angel Grove High to Lily's job and Harry's interest in the martial arts- at least his other self had been interested in that before he vanished; it saved Harry having something else he couldn't explain-, but even when they'd been relaxing and watching movies, Harry couldn't stop himself from feeling like an intruder in someone else's life.

Even if this was technically a life he could have lived, it still wasn't the life that _he _had lived, and no matter how much he might appreciate the chance to spend time with his mother, this Lily wasn't the Lily Potter who would have raised him...

A sudden comment Lily made about him being eighteen now drew Harry's thoughts back to the present; in the face of jarring reminders like that, even the most thorough introspection could get thrown off.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Lily asked, looking at him with a concern that Harry both wanted to accept and reject, wanting to enjoy even this strange connection with this woman no matter how much he constantly reminded himself that she wasn't _his _mother, that she had her _own _Harry...

"Just... bit tired," he said at last, shrugging slightly. "It's nothing."

"Get some sleep," Lily said, smiling at him as she leaned over to plant a brief kiss on his scar (He was glad that she'd accepted his explanation that he couldn't remember how that had happened; at least she hadn't identified it as a _curse _scar). "We'll need to get you some new clothes in the morning; the ones you're wearing now look like you've been sleeping in them."

No matter how complicated things were going to be when the time came for him to leave, in that moment, as he hugged his mother, he couldn't help but enjoy this brief chance at a glimpse of the actual family he'd never had a chance to experience back home...

* * *

As he hung in Zedd's throne room, Jason fought to remain conscious despite the ache in his head from what he'd just endured; evidently, no matter what reality they were from, Zedd and his associates had all the subtlety of a brick to the face when looking for information.

From what he could hear, he wasn't sure whether he should be grateful or disturbed at the fact that Ooze apparently wanted him left alive for some reason...

"Well, Ooze," Zedd snarled, his voice drawing Jason's attention back to the matter at hand by giving him something to focus on, "were you able to pry anything _useful _from Jason?"

"_Indeed _I have!" Ivan answered, grinning at Zedd. "Although most of the information I have gained relates more to the White Ranger's past Ranger teams, I believe that with a few modifications, I can use what I have learned to destroy _all _of the Power Rangers, starting with the Red, White, and Yellow Patronus Force Rangers!"

As a door opened, Jason glanced up at the source of the noise, his eyes widening in horror at the sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and a third boy with red hair who looked like he was related to the other two Weasleys. For a moment, he thought that he was looking at his team, but the four he recognised were all in different colours to what he was used to; while Harry was still in red, and all four were wearing dark trousers, Ron was now wearing black, Hermione was in grey, and Ginny was in a dark yellow, while the unknown third Weasley was in blue.

_Oh, _no_... _Jason thought, as he took in the almost pure-black eyes of all five of the figures before him; if these people weren't this world's counterparts of his friends, he didn't know what else they could be.

"You wanted to see us, Master?" Harry asked, his deeper voice resonating as he spoke.

"I did indeed, my boy!" Ivan answered, grinning as he placed a hand on a metal box. "After close inspection of the Power Ranger's abilities, I have come to the conclusion that your present powers are far too weak to keep up with the Patronus Force Rangers. To that end, I have constructed _new _morphers for you; morphers that will infuse you with even _more _power!"

_Oh, _crap, Jason thought, his eyes narrowing as he watched the purple figure retrieve five black wrist-mounted devices, each one with a different coloured strip that was subsequently strapped to their wrists.

"Now, _morph_!" Ivan yelled.

"_Dark Force- GO_!" the five figures yelled, all of them raising their arms into the air before they were surrounded by a flash of energy. Each Ranger was now dressed in a dark costume in their respective colours with a black upside-down triangle on the chest and black lines running down their arms and legs, gloves and boots in the colour of the costume apart from black bands around the tops. Each Ranger's helmet bore a resemblance to the skull of an animal, with Harry's helmet resembling a stag's skull, Ron's looked somewhat dog-like, Hermione was an otter, Ginny seemed to be a horse, and the fifth figure seemed to be some kind of dog-like animal.

"Those Power Rangers won't stand a chance against us now!" Ron growled, studying his costume with a sense of satisfaction.

"Too bad that I won't get a crack at that annoying Lovegood bitch!" Hermione said, clenching her fists in anticipation. "But at least I can kill dear sweet Amanda!"

"What's your deal with her?" the unidentified Blue Ranger sneered underneath his helmet.

"She had the... the _audacity_... to get a higher grade than I did in Transfiguration!" Hermione exclaimed. "_No one_ is allowed to do that to _me _and get away with it!"

As he stared at the twisted alternate versions of his friends, Jason wasn't sure what was worst about what might be coming up; the fact that his friends would technically be up against themselves, or the fact that he couldn't do a thing to help them.

"Nice costumes," Zedd said with a dismissive sneer. "But have you forgotten that the Dark Rangers were created to fight the Patronus Force Rangers, and that the Rangers have now been joined by those _other _Power Rangers?"

"Zeddy, Zeddy, Zeddy..." Ivan said, grinning knowingly at the other man. "Thanks to the White Ranger, I have the perfect team to go up against the Guardian and Dino Thunder Rangers! _BEHOLD_!"

As though Ivan's words had been a spell, the chamber door opened once more, revealing six figures that Jason immediately recognised.

Even if he'd never fought them himself, the armour and colour scheme made it obvious; only one team could look like that...

_The Psycho Rangers_... he thought, his eyes widening in horror as the new 'Rangers' introduced themselves.

The most dangerous team of evil Rangers to ever exist, the only ones that actually came genuinely close to defeating the Rangers they'd been created to oppose- particularly since they were just evil Rangers rather than having been brainwashed or anything like that-, and Ooze had gone and created his _own _version of the team?

He had to figure out a way out of this mess and get back to the others; they _had _to know what they were up against...

"Time to let the Ranger Wars begin!" Ooze cackled, grinning as he looked around at the eleven Rangers he had created. "And, to kick things off... I think I'll hit the Rangers where it will _really _hurt..."

"And what about Sleeping Beauty over there?" Rita asked, indicating Jason (One obvious advantage of them leaving his helmet on during the whole thing where they'd been scanning his thoughts; they evidently thought that the lack of motion meant that he was still unconscious).

"Oh... I have a few plans in mind for him," Ooze said, smirking in satisfaction as he rubbed his hands together. "While we return the Guardian Megazord to the Rangers who so generously leant it to us, I'm sure that Jason here will be quite willing to repay our hospitality by acquiring a certain crystal for us..."

Underneath his helmet, Jason's eyes widened in horror.

If he understood what Ooze was implying, he _really _needed to warn the others; there was no way in _Hell _that Zedd and Ooze could be given the chance to acquire the _Zeo Crystal_...

* * *

_A few dimensions away..._

As he sat in his chamber, staring at the staff that had brought him so much power, Voldemort wondered what it said about his ascent to power when he felt that things were becoming too easy.

With the Hogwarts Guardians and their 'associates' having been dealt with- honestly, why so many people felt the need to prevent the rise of the strong to rule the weak by donning such ridiculous outfits Voldemort would never understand-, he had been able to turn his attention back to establishing his power back in Britain. The Ministry takeover generally appeared to be going well, with the relevant followers placed in the right positions to do the most good for his long-term agenda while other positions were filled by those who would sympathise with his goals even if they would have lacked the courage to take action before now.

With most of the Order having kept the full scale of their operations secret from everyone to limit the possibility of further traitors- evidently Dumbledore had learned his lesson after Wormtail's betrayal-, there was no way for Voldemort to know who among the Ministry could be trusted and who should be suspected, and he could hardly fire even the obvious suspects such as Arthur Weasley without making his current presence obvious, given that Weasley's department was still performing at sufficient standards even if he disapproved of the man himself.

Quite frankly, at this point, bringing the Guardians back might almost be a good thing; at least it would give his enemies something to rally around now that Dumbledore's death had deprived them of the central focus they had possessed previously...

Shaking that thought off, Voldemort stood up and walked to the centre of the chamber, raising his staff above his head as he began to chant once more.

Before he made a decision about what he was going to do with the Guardians and his enemies one way or the other, he was going to need to confirm where he had sent them and how they were coping with whatever dangers awaited them there... and to do that, he would need a very special monster...


	44. Lost in a NewOld World

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Another collaborative effort with William Lamb, and I also took some inspiration from the episodes 'Master Vile and the Metallic Armor'; hope you like the result

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he stared in frustration at the door to the lab, Jason cursed the crap run of luck they'd had since this whole mission started. Not only was his current Ranger career based on a scavenger hunt with a bunch of people he'd never met rather than a straight-up fight in a specific area- he liked Harry and the others, of course, but that didn't mean it wasn't annoying getting stuck with the responsibility to stop an insane wizard with a group of strangers...

And now, as if things hadn't been crap enough, they were trapped in another dimension dealing with a psychotic bad guy who'd recreated the worst villains ever faced by any team of Power Rangers _ever_, and Jason had been the one to give him the idea of doing so in the first place!

OK, so he'd done what he could to stop Ooze getting too much useful information during the mind probe- tried to focus his thoughts on irrelevant information rather than allow his mind to 'drift' to anything the bad guy could use-, and realistically he knew that there was virtually nothing he could have done to stop the bastard getting what he wanted given that training to resist that kind of thing was something nobody had ever covered in his time as a Ranger, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel annoyed; all the time he'd spent as the Rangers' leader back in his world, and he still couldn't stop himself giving the bad guy what he was after...

The only chance that the rest of the teams had right now was if he could break out of these stupid chains and get to the Zeo Crystal before Ooze came back to do whatever he was going to do to make Jason get it for him. Based on what he remembered from Andros's files on the original Psycho Rangers, the initial versions had relied on Dark Specter to provide them with the energy they needed to oppose the Rangers as equals- there'd been some speculation that the Psychos had found an independent power source of some sort during their time as discorporate entities, but that was just a theory; personally, Jason thought that Deviot had given them access to a new power source after he'd brought them back to fight the Terra Venture Rangers-, so it seemed likely that Ooze intended to use the Zeo Crystal for the power source for his Psychos, which meant that ensuring Ooze couldn't access it was his best chance to take the wind out of this guy's sails.

Checking the chains that were currently holding him to the wall, Jason strained against them for a few more moments until he felt something shift slightly around his left wrist; even if a quick glance at the wrist in question showed that the chains were still present, when he compared the current position of his wrist to how far he'd been able to stretch earlier, something had _definitely _changed...

Stuck for further ideas, Jason continued to pull at the chains keeping him trapped, alternating between gentle strains and harder yanks- he was in a fairly isolated part of the castle, so at least the odds of anyone overhearing him were relatively low, even if he was stuck for ideas about what his current actions would accomplish long-term-, until he finally heard something crack behind him and he found himself staring at the chain around his left wrist, hanging from the now-freed arm with a small chunk of rock at the bottom.

Grinning at the sight of this victory, Jason continued his repeated tugs and yanks at the chains until all four of his limbs were mobile once more, each of them with small chunks of rock around the ends furthest from him. Evidently, Ooze had only been focusing on providing reinforced chains without considering the possibility that someone would keep trying long enough to damage the links holding the chains onto the wall in the first place.

Admittedly, the chains themselves would make it a bit more difficult to run or move, but if he tucked the chains around his legs into his boots and kept a hold of the ones around his arms, the leg ones shouldn't be that much of an inconvenience...

With the immediate problem of movement solved, Jason turned his mental attention to planning his current route even as he began to run as quickly and quietly as possible.

If he was going to stop Ooze from getting his hands on the Zeo Crystal, the first step was to figure out how to get to the Caves where it had been left in the first place...

* * *

Looking around at the group of teenagers sitting in the Juice Bar, Ginny wished that she didn't feel quite so out of place.

It wasn't that she wouldn't have been happy to have the equivalent of a summer job back home- it wasn't like her family didn't need the money, even if Fred and George were easily pulling in the cash since they started their shop-, but moments like this made it clear that wizarding society needed to adapt more to cope with muggle expectations; opportunities to find part-time work at Hogwarts were slim at best, and there weren't exactly a wide range of opportunities during the summer either, unless a wizard was in a muggle family... and now, with the Dino Thunder and Hogwarts Guardian Rangers both needing a means to support themselves until they could get back home- Tommy might have a good reason for staying 'undercover', but even if Alan's family had enough money to support them none of the other teams liked the idea of depending on him that much-, Alan had helped convince the manager of this place to give Ginny and Kira jobs for the next couple of weeks (They hadn't wanted to attract too much attention to themselves by all applying for jobs in the same place; even if they weren't planning to stay here for long, it might attract too many questions for the Patronus Force to answer if people they had 'nominated' for jobs vanished on the same day).

"Hey," Kira said, prompting Ginny to turn and look at the Dino Thunder Yellow Ranger- Ron's _predecessor_; somehow a part of Ginny still found the idea that Ron had something in common with this woman somewhat amusing-, who was looking at her curiously. "You OK?"

"Just... surprised, I guess," Ginny said, shrugging slightly as she looked at her fellow Ranger, ignoring the slight 'itch' that was probably just a psychological reaction to the spells she was under; to limit the possibility of being recognised, she was using some minor appearance charms to remove her freckles and change her hair to a reddish-brown colour, but it was still frustrating having to go out with them in the first place. "I just... well, we don't really do this sort of thing back home that much; there weren't many opportunities, you know..."

"And you're feeling a bit thrown in at the deep end, huh?" Kira said, smiling slightly at the younger girl. "Don't worry about it; everyone feels that way when you're shoved into this kind of position for the first time. Just focus on what you can control here, pay attention to what everyone's asking for, and you'll be fine, OK?"

Nodding gratefully at Kira, Ginny turned her attention back to her current job, even as a part of her mind turned to the more worrying concern facing her right now; specifically, how Harry was coping with recent events.

He might not actually be in danger, but the fact that he was meeting his mother for the first time in his life- even if this version of Lily Potter wasn't the version who'd given birth to 'her' Harry- was still a complicated situation, and a part of Ginny had to wonder how Harry actually felt about the whole mess. Even if she didn't think that Harry would abandon their world- if nothing else, the Harry of this reality was still out there somewhere-, that didn't mean that he wouldn't get attached to _this _Lily while he was here, only to lose her all over again when he left...

It was definitely one of those moments that you could only describe as ambivalent; as much as Ginny wanted to resent the idea of Harry having a family outside of the one her own family had all-but-adopted him into, the rest of her knew that a part of Harry would always need to have his own family, rather than sharing theirs.

_Or have the opportunity to make his own_...

She pushed that thought aside quickly; no matter how much she loved Harry, neither of them were ready to think about _that _yet!

Still, all in all, things could be worse; at least they had friends in this world, and they had half-decent accommodation available until they got back home, to say nothing of them having some kind of plan about how to get back in the first place even if they still needed to work out how to generate the power they needed to get the zords back with them...

"Hey, Kira, Ginny," Alan's voice said, prompting the two female Rangers to turn and look at the Red Ranger of this world as he walked behind the counter to join them. "How's the new job working out?"

"Let's just say that I have a lot more respect for what Hayley goes through than I did before," Kira said, sighing in frustration.

"Who's Hayley?" Alan asked. "Friend of yours?"

"You could think of her as a cross between Billy and Ernie," Kira replied. "She runs the Cyber-Cafe back home; it was basically to us what this place is to your team."

"How's things back... home?" Ginny asked, hoping that Alan understood what she was asking; she wasn't sure how closely anyone was listening to them right now, but she didn't want to take too many chances.

Taking a brief glance around to make sure nobody was listening, Alan leant over as he whispered his reply. "Amanda and Hermione went over to Billy's house to help him with his Molecular Decoders; if things go to plan, we'll have a way to get inside Zedd's palace and rescue Jason by tonight."

"And the Guardian Megazord?" Ginny asked. She might not have used it that often- quite frankly, a part of her still couldn't believe she was controlling such an incredible thing-, but the thought of her Serpent under the control of someone else for the second time since she'd acquired it wasn't something she liked to think about.

It had been bad enough when Malfoy had hijacked the zord with the Black gem- they'd been able to get it back fairly quickly afterwards-, but to know that it had been _completely _stolen...

"Unfortunately, even if we could work out where it's being kept, the Decoders aren't powerful enough to make a portal big enough to recover something that size," Alan said, looking apologetically at Ginny. "Right now, getting Jason back is our main focus; we'll figure out a way to rescue your Zords back after that."

"And Harry?" Ginny asked, looking uncertainly at Alan. "How's... how's he doing?"

She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear that Harry was settling into his alternate self's family or if he'd been exposed as an 'impostor'; no matter how she felt about Harry, jealousy wasn't an easy thing to overcome...

"He's fine," Alan said, smiling reassuringly at her. "Lily took him shopping for some new clothes as well as some new glasses; she wants to get Harry some wire-frame glasses to replace those broken plastic frames he has now."

"Oh," Ginny said, smiling slightly at the thought of Harry getting the chance to do something so normal with his family. "Well... that's nice."

"Getting back to Jason," Kira said, obviously recognising her friend's ambivalent feelings about the topic of Harry, "what's the plan if these... Decoder things work?"

"Once they're on, we'll pick a strike team and get up there to get Jason home, kicking and screaming if we have to," Alan said, nodding resolutely at the two young women. "Trust me; we'll get him out..."

"Alan," a voice said from behind the girls, prompting them to turn and look at Ernie, the Juice Bar's overweight but good-natured manager, as he looked at Alan in a mock-stern manner, "how many times do I have to get onto you about coming behind the counter?"

"Sorry," Alan said, smiling slightly as he walked around the counter to sit on a stool on the other side. "Is this better, sir?"

"That's better," Ernie confirmed with a smile. "Now what can I get for you? Your usual?"

"Yeah," Alan said, nodding in confirmation. "I'll be sparring with Nathan and Jake today."

"Ah," Ernie said, nodding in understanding. "One apple juice, coming up."

* * *

Walking into the cavern underneath Zedd's palace that would lead him to the Zeo Crystal, Jason wished that he could shake off the nagging concern he felt that this whole thing was too easy.

OK, so the fact that he could access the cavern from the palace was bit worrying, but considering that Zedd's infamous skinless appearance was caused by his own attempt to acquire the Zeo Crystal burning his skin off, it only made sense that he'd have a passage leading to it; given how legendary the Crystal was, Jason wouldn't be surprised if Zedd had built this whole palace in this area so that he could try and find the thing back in the day and just decided to keep the palace here to prevent anyone else getting their hands on the Crystal.

Right now, though, as he faced the tunnel in front of him, dismissing the side alcoves as irrelevant as the passage in front of him opened in a bright gleam of golden light, he couldn't afford to worry about Zedd's possible motivations; he had to get out of here and get the Zeo Crystal before anyone else could.

"Hello there, White Ranger!" Goldar's voice suddenly yelled, prompting Jason to draw Saba and spin around to face his old enemy, the gold-armoured titan glaring back at him. "Did you truly think that you could escape that easily?"

"Thought came to mind," Jason said, raising Tommy's old sword as he glared at Goldar. "After all, it's not like you have a good track record of keeping prisoners, is it?"

"You were only just a threat when you were in red; do you truly think you can defeat me now because of a change in colour?" Goldar laughed mockingly.

"Red, Gold or White; first and foremost, I'm still a Ranger," Jason said, lunging towards Goldar, only for his enemy to vanish after they exchanged a few blows with their swords as though he had never been there.

Shrugging slightly at the disappearance- that matched what had happened to Tommy, anyway; a first threat from a prominent enemy that disappeared when he showed that he was willing to confront it-, Jason turned around to walk further into the tunnel he'd noticed earlier, advancing along the tunnel with little trouble for a few minutes, until he came to a halt as he found himself faced by the unexpected presence of the other five Hogwarts Guardians.

"Guys?" he said, looking between them in confusion; it wasn't exactly _impossible _to assume that they'd made it here on their own, but that left the question of why they were here in the first place. "What's going on?"

"Jason," Harry said, the Red Hogwarts Guardian looking surprisingly solemn even with his helmet concealing his head. "We don't have a choice."

"What?" Jason said, looking at his teammate in confusion.

"Ooze has too much on his side, Jason," Ron said, his tone grim. "If we're ever going to get home, we're only going to do it if he _lets _us-"

"OK, does anyone _seriously _expect me to believe this?" Jason said, shifting into a combat stance as he glared at the five people before him. "Harry wouldn't give into his greatest enemy when he was eleven years old and had _nothing _going for him; do you expect me to buy that he'd quit now?"

As though his denial had been a cue, the Hogwarts Guardians charged towards him, only for Jason to leap over them as they attacked, spinning around as he landed only to find that all five of them had vanished; clearly it had just been another of the Zeo Crystal's defences.

Not that they were that intimidating, now that Jason thought about it; he'd fought Goldar before, so the prospect of fighting him again wouldn't have been that scary even if he hadn't remembered Tommy's stories about the original acquisition of the Crystal, and that illusion of the other Guardians hadn't been that well-thought-out, given how quickly he'd seen through it.

Then again, from what he recalled from Tommy's description of his own acquisition of the Crystal, no matter what stood between him and the Crystal's location, it was actually picking the thing up that was the _really _challenging bit...

* * *

As he walked into the Juice Bar, Tommy allowed himself a nostalgic smile as he took in the area around him.

It might have been years since he'd spent any time here- and those last few months hadn't quite been the same; Lieutenant Stone had been a decent guy, but he just hadn't had the same warmth of personality that Ernie had brought to the place-, but there was something about the Juice Bar that he'd never forget; Ernie had taken a place that could have just been a random club, and turned it into an area where students of all ages could kick back, relax, talk with each other, and generally practise their hobbies without being judged, to say nothing of some of the events he'd helped them organise.

Plus...

Well, he'd never explicitly test it, but he sometimes wondered if Ernie had known who they were.

After all, a group of six kids, occasionally changing 'members' but not changing the colour of the clothes they wore except under _exceptional _circumstances, occasionally hurrying out of the bar without paying for their drinks despite their usually good reputations?

Ernie might not be a detective of any sort, but he hadn't managed to keep this place running by being stupid, and they'd run out on him more than enough times prior to and during monster attacks that he'd have had several opportunities to put the pieces together; Bulk and Skull might have rejected the evidence because they'd been more focused on being smart or ignoring the Rangers rather than paying attention to the 'dweebs', but that didn't mean the same was true for Ernie.

It was like this stuff he'd read once about Perry White and Jim Gordon in DC Comics; both of them were too good at their jobs to not know that Clark Kent and Batman were Superman and Bruce Wayne respectively, but they probably pretended _not _to know in order to protect their friends...

As Ernie walked off to another part of the counter, Tommy walked over to sit down opposite Kira and Ginny, smiling slightly at them as he took up position in a seat next to Alan (He didn't really pay much attention to the younger man, though; as much as he respected Alan's 'authority' as the Red Ranger of this world, he didn't know the man that well).

"Doctor O.?" Kira said, looking at him in surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to go over to Billy's?"

"I am," Tommy replied, smiling at his old student. "I just wanted to drop in for one of Ernie's smoothies; it's been a long time since I had the chance."

"Nostalgia can be a powerful thing, huh?" Ginny said, smiling over at the palaeontologist.

"Pretty much, yeah," Tommy confirmed, nodding at the young red-headed witch who had inherited his original colour, before he looked over at Alan. "Uh... you came here on your bike, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Alan asked, looking curiously back at him.

"You _might _want to step outside for a minute..." Tommy said, looking awkwardly over at the door as the large, overweight man with a surprisingly thinner wife and an equally overweight son walked into the bar, pulling the younger man to his feet and heading for the door, taking care to avoid the family in question; he didn't know who they were, but he had a feeling it would be better for Alan to attend to this on his own first.

"Doctor Oliver, what-?" Alan asked as they walked into the car park, before his eyes fell on the damaged form of his red motorcycle an obvious dent in its side and a twisted rear wheel. "What the _hell _happened to my bike?"

"That's... well, it was that car there," Tommy said, indicating a nearby car with a few red scratches on the bumper from where it had struck the bike. "I saw it happening as I was walking in; there wasn't time to do anything else."

"Alan, what's-?" Elizabeth's voice said, prompting Alan and Tommy to turn as this world's Yellow Ranger walked up to the two of them, before her gaze focused on the bike. "Oh."

"What's going on, guys?" Ernie's voice asked as the older man walked out of the juice bar, prompting Tommy to duck and turn around to walk back into the bar; he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself from people who'd known his other self than he absolutely had to.

Considering the possibility that Ernie might know that they were Rangers was one thing; asking him to ignore or accept the idea that travel from alternate universes was possible was something else entirely.

* * *

As he walked through the entrance that would lead to the crystal, Jason smiled at the sight that greeted him; a large cavern, filled with various white crystals, with the Zeo Crystal in the centre of the room, illuminated by a glowing white light.

"_Jason_..." a voice said.

Spinning around, Jason's eyes widened in shock.

"_Zordon_?" he said, staring in shock at his mentor's ghostly form, Zordon's full body shimmering with a blue light, dressed in long white robes. "What the-?"

"_You should not be here, Jason_," Zordon said, staring grimly at him. "_You returned to host the Zeo powers, and that marked the end of your time_-"

"Once a Ranger, always a Ranger, Zordon," Jason said, glaring solemnly at the man who was clearly meant to be the Zordon _he _knew, rather than the Zordon of this world. "Maybe I did my time, but I'm still needed here, and that's what matters most; I'm not going to back down just because I'm a bit old."

"_You are not destined to help these Rangers, Jason_-" the illusion said.

"And _that _is why you're not Zordon," Jason said, glaring at the figure in front of him. "Zordon was always about helping others; maybe we were destined to become Rangers, maybe we weren't, but he would _never _ask us not to take action because we weren't 'meant' to or any crap like that!"

With that said, he turned around and walked up to the Crystal, his hands reaching out to take the object in his hands-

_He was watching as his body tore through the Turbo Rangers' defences with ease, his mind and soul corrupted by Maligore's influence-_

_He was holding Tommy over Maligore's pit, choking him to death-_

NO! Jason thought to himself, forcing his way past those memories.

He'd always be ashamed of what he'd done under Maligore's control, but he'd done everything that he could to resist it, and he wasn't going to start blaming himself for that now;

_He was fighting against Goldar, deprived of his morpher, but nevertheless refusing to let his foe win..._

_He was facing Goldar in the Dark Dimension for a third time, fighting to save his team from losing their powers the same way Tommy had lost his..._

_He was wielding the powers of the Gold Ranger, accepting the call back to action to aid his friends even after so long out of the game_...

As the 'vision' faded, Jason felt the Zeo Crystal in his hands and pulled it away from the stand that it had been positioned on, leaving him grinning in relief as he took in the object in his hands.

He'd _done _it!

His good mood faded when he turned around, Jason's eyes widening in horror at the sight of the monstrous creature standing before him; the White Psycho Ranger, looking at him with that same bizarrely smug expression that all Psychoes managed to generate despite their fixed faces.

"What the _Hell_-?" he began, only for Psycho White to grab him by the throat and pin him to the floor before he could even draw Saba.

"_Thank _you," Psycho White said, chuckling as 'he'- the voice sounded somewhat male, but with the twisted, metallic tones of the Psycho Rangers taken into account it was hard to tell- picked up the Zeo Crystal from alongside Jason. "Ivan Ooze was hoping you'd save us the trouble; honestly, this thing barely seems to put up any kind of fight when a worthy seeker is after it..."

Even as a part of Jason noted that this explained the relatively tame nature of the 'defences' he and Tommy had faced getting here- Zedd was practically torched when he tried to take the Crystal and all he and Tommy had to deal with was a bunch of holograms?-, that didn't make him feel any better about what a goddamn _idiot _he'd been about this whole situation; he should have _known _that any villain worth their salt wouldn't have underestimated Ranger strength to the extent needed for anyone to think that those chains would have held Jason for long...

"Oh, and in case you're wondering why _I _wasn't driven back, I was hiding in your 'mental shadow' when I was following you here so the place registered me as you; the advantages of being based on you, you know," Psycho White said, chuckling briefly as he stared down at Jason before he hauled the Ranger back to his feet, leaving Jason gasping for oxygen around the pain in his throat. "Now then, time we were off back to the palace; Ivan Ooze is going to want this little crystal..."

Jason didn't even have time to try and attack Psycho White before he felt himself being yanked away by a more violent form of teleportation and dropped in the middle of Zedd's throne room, barely having time to glare at Ivan before his arms were pinned behind his back by the other Psychos.

"Thank _you _for your kind assistance, Jason," Ivan Ooze said, grinning with a frustrating sense of self-satisfaction as he picked up the Zeo Crystal from where it now lay on the floor. "Hope you don't take it personally if I don't oversee your re-imprisonment, but I have other matters to attend to right now."

Jason hadn't felt this angry with himself since Tommy had lost the Green Ranger powers for good because of his own failure, and at least back then they'd only suffered because of the loss of a Ranger; in this case the bad guy had acquired a small army of _new _Rangers because he'd screwed up...

No matter what it took, he was _not _going to leave this dimension while Ivan Ooze had control of the Zeo Crystal.

* * *

As she looked at the new arrivals, Ginny tried not to stare too much, but all the rational thinking in the world- they weren't the versions she knew, recognising them would attract the attention they were trying to escape, they hadn't actually _done _anything to Harry in this reality- wouldn't have stopped the surge of hatred she felt as she glared at the three distinctive figures sitting at the juice bar.

The Dursleys were in America...

Even if she'd only briefly glimpsed Harry's remaining biological relatives when she'd seen them at King's Cross at the end of the school year, she'd never forgotten them ever since her first sighting of them after her first year at Hogwarts; the idea that they'd tried to hold Harry captive in his room just to stop him from going back to Hogwarts had just sickened her.

They might not have gone that far in this world, but everything Ginny could see of them made it clear that they'd only never abused Harry in that manner because of a lack of opportunity. Judging by the scathing way Vernon Dursley was looking at the sparring teens around them, he was as prejudiced and short-tempered as the version of him that existed in Ginny's world, and his overweight son was belching loudly as he ate in a manner that left Ginny feeling disgusted; Ron might eat a lot, but Dudley was just stuffing himself for the sake of it, without giving any sign that he was enjoying what he was eating...

She was just grateful that Elizabeth didn't seem to have recognised them yet, even after she'd been the one to take their food over after Kira had taken the original order; evidently, Harry's mother hadn't felt inclined to talk about her family.

Admittedly, Petunia had started slightly when Elizabeth had first walked into the Juice Bar, but Ginny was guessing that her reaction was mainly because of Elizabeth's resemblance to her mother- based on some of the photos of Lilly she'd seen in Harry's photo album-, rather than any actual recognition from personal experience. As Alan walked over to begin his sparring practise with Jake and Nate, Doctor Oliver joining them as they spoke in hushed tones about something Ginny couldn't hear, she allowed herself a moment to relax and get back to work, taking a few more drinks over to another table, before the sound of a loud yell prompted her to spin around.

"Oh no..." she said, her eyes widening as she saw Dudley glaring at Alan, the Red Ranger lying on the floor as Doctor Oliver stepped forward, looking at Dudley in a firm manner even as he tried to avoid giving off a combat-ready appearance.

If this Dudley was anything like the one back home, he probably had at least some fighting experience, but it would probably be various boxing techniques; Ginny didn't know much about fighting hand-to-hand, but after some of the manoeuvres she'd found herself using thanks to the combat knowledge provided by her new powers, she was fairly certain that any fight between Alan and Dudley wouldn't go in Dudley's favour.

The problem was that the confrontation would attract the kind of attention that they _really _didn't need right now; this whole situation was getting complicated enough with Jason missing and Harry dragged into the role of his other self without Alan getting into a fight with Harry's cousin...

Unfortunately, it was swiftly clear that Dudley just wanted to provoke a fight, judging by the way that he shoved Alan backwards as Alan stood up even as Alan continued to try and talk to him; Ginny was trying to focus on her work, but she couldn't help but glance anxiously over at where her new friend was confronting the person who'd made her boyfriend's life hell when he was a child. After another punch from Dudley briefly sent Alan to his knees, Alan clearly decided to give up on talking as he shifted into a combat stance, Dudley's initial taunt quickly falling apart when Alan neatly ducked under Dudley's next punch and grabbed his arm, tripping Dudley over and twisting his captured arm while placing his knee in the small of the boy's back.

"DUDDERS!" Petunia Dursley's voice cried, prompting Ginny to roll her eyes as Harry's aunt ran over to her son; if the woman had shown Harry _half _the concern she showed her overweight bully of a son, he'd probably have turned to be a more well-rounded boy...

"'Dudders'?" Kira said, the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger's voice drawing Ginny's thought back to the present as she walked back behind the counter, noting Kira looking scathingly over at where the Dursleys were fawning over Dudley and yelling at Alan. "What kind of woman calls anyone that age something so stupid?"

"Harry's aunt," Ginny replied, putting down her tray and hurrying towards the site of the confrontation, followed closely by Kira, as Vernon jabbed a fat finger in Alan's face.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY SON!" Vernon Dursley roared (Just like Ginny had always imagined him from what little Harry had revealed, really; completely ignoring anything that might suggest that his son was the bully). "WHEN I GET DONE WITH YOU-!"

"STOP IT!" Elizabeth yelled, the Yellow Patronus Force Ranger reaching the confrontation before the other two girls, leaving Ginny and Kira to just take up a supporting position behind their friend.

"Please," Elizabeth said, looking firmly at Vernon, "we don't want any trouble here, so please, just leave!"

Letting out a furious bellow, Vernon suddenly slapped Elizabeth in the face with a resounding smack, the attack prompting Alan to start to leap past the other two girls towards the older man- Ginny couldn't believe how quickly this whole situation was degenerating; even her worst imaginings hadn't pictured the Dursleys as being _this _bad- before Ernie suddenly appeared on the scene, the short, obese owner of the Juice Bar throwing Vernon into an empty table with surprising force.

"Do you know who I am?" Vernon said, scrambling to his feet and glaring directly at Ernie. "I happen to be Vernon Dursley of Grunnings Drill Company."

Elizabeth's shocked gasp at least confirmed Ginny's theory that she hadn't recognised the Dursleys earlier, but this wasn't the time to focus on things like that; they had more immediate matters to focus on right now.

"I don't care who you are," Ernie countered, glaring back at Vernon, "but no one comes into my place and attacks my customers or my staff without answering to me. Now you have two choices; you can either just take your family and leave or I can call the cops and have you arrested for assault and battery."

For a moment, Vernon's eyes narrowed as he glared at Ernie, prompting Ginny to tense herself for action if the fatter man tried to take action in response to Ernie's silent defiance of him, but he eventually backed down and turned back to his family.

"Petunia, Dudley, we're leaving," he said, his tone brisk as he headed for the door, his wife and son just ahead of him, leaving Ginny, Kira, and Tommy to turn their attention back to the shaken Elizabeth as Alan helped her into a chair.

"Are you all right?" he asked, looking anxiously at his girlfriend.

"I'm fine; just a bit rattled," Elizabeth said, looking shakily at the others.

"I take it you recognised them, then?" Ginny asked.

"_You _know them?" Alan said, looking at Ginny in shock. "Who were they?"

"They were my boyfriend's guardians back home," Ginny replied, after a quick glance around confirmed that Ernie had gone back to the counter and nobody was close enough to overhear their current conversation in depth. "The woman was Lily's sister."

Ginny barely had time to register the obvious shock on Alan's face at hearing that name before a high-pitched scream from outside drew their attention to more immediate matters, the two 'native' Rangers leading the rush towards the door as Ginny, Kira and Doctor Oliver followed them. Arriving in the car park, it was relatively easy to identify the source of the scream as Petunia Dursley, screaming her head off as her husband lay on the ground, badly injured, and her son was nowhere to be seen.

"Mrs Dursley?" Alan asked, hurrying over to kneel down in front of her. "What happened?"

"T-th-th-those _things _took my Dudders!" Petunia finally screamed after a few moments of pointless stammering. "These... _bird monsters _took my _son_!"

Ginny wished that she felt more comfortable swearing than she did; the idea that they now had to rescue _Dudley _on top of everything else they were up against right now...

That was the annoying thing about being the hero, when you got down to it; you had to save _everyone_, even the people you didn't particularly like.


	45. How Worlds Divide

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Collaboration efforts continue; hope you like the result

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he thought about the events of the last few days, Conner couldn't quite believe how quickly things had escalated. All he'd set out to do when the Hogwarts Guardians arrived was help them find that 'horcrux' thing that they were looking for so that they could take another step towards defeating their enemy, and now here they were, stuck in another reality with no way to get back at the moment and the original Red Ranger being held captive by some deranged purple guy while the _newest _Red Ranger.

That was life as a Ranger, he supposed; things were _ridiculously _complicated even after he was essentially 'retired'.

Stuck for anything else to do at the moment, he was currently just sitting in the lounge of Alan Black's house, reading over a couple of books he'd found about wizarding history- what they'd heard suggested that this world hadn't diverged from theirs more than a few years ago, so anything he read in these should still be valid back home- while Hermione, Billy and Amanda did a bit of brainstorming to try and figure out some kind of plan to get them back home, leaving the other two teams to discuss possible plans of attack.

The only comfort he had was that at least Kira and Trent was just as much at a loose end right now as he was- Harry, Ron and Ginny were working to help their friend, Ethan had some ideas about the science stuff they were dealing with, and the other Rangers knew the territory they were dealing with, but the three of them knew virtually nothing about what they were dealing with here on either front-, and that didn't exactly make him feel much better when they were off in some other part of the house right now; the Yellow and White Dino Thunder Rangers might have drifted apart even after Trent had returned to normal, but there was still something there that deserved the chance to grow.

God, he _hated _having to be the noble Red Ranger sometimes; why the _hell _couldn't he be allowed to be selfish once or twice?

OK, so things had been rocky between him and Kira when they first started working together on the Dino Thunder team, but that didn't mean anything; they'd moved on from that part of their relationship long ago, and neither of them were the same people who'd tried to escape their duty when they'd first been bonded to the gems. They'd moved on from that point in their lives to become better Rangers and better people than they could have expected that they'd become, and Connor liked to think that she saw him as a close friend...

He just wished that he could convince himself that friendship was enough for him; after things had fallen apart with Krista, he'd accepted what he was _really _looking for in a relationship, but the challenge lay in working out what to do when the person he wanted didn't want him...

"You OK?" a voice asked, prompting Conner to turn around as Sylvia walked into the room, the Black Guardian Ranger looking surprisingly relaxed about their current predicament.

"About what you'd expect; bored and wishing there was something I could do to help us get back home," Conner replied, shrugging slightly as he looked back at the Black Guardian Ranger; even if he wasn't comfortable telling her about his real feelings for Kira, he couldn't help but feel suddenly curious as another thought occurred to him. "Y'know, I never actually asked; how did you get into this?"

"Huh?" Sylvia asked, looking back at him in confusion.

"Well, I get how Jason ended up in the game- bringing back an experienced Ranger for a fight like this makes sense-, but how did you end up in the team?" Conner clarified.

"Like I said when we met, I knew the Space Rangers when I was a little girl and acquired the Black Guardian Gem when the original wielder couldn't use it any more-" Sylvia began.

"Yeah, I got that, but _how _did that happen?" Connor clarified, looking curiously at her. "I mean, you're not a wizard, and you mentioned that you were the second person to possess the Black Guardian Gem, so... how'd you get into that position?"

"Well, from what they told me after I met the rest of the team for the first time, the original Black Guardian Ranger was an old school rival of Harry's," Sylvia explained. "Their enemy- that Voldemort guy- created the Black Gem to try and duplicate their power sources- the old 'set a thief to catch a thief' approach, when you get down to it-, but even with the Dark Guardian zords to help him, he just..."

"Couldn't cut it, huh?" Conner said with a smile.

"He tried to take on all five of the then-active Guardian Rangers _and _the Red and Quantum Time Force Rangers all at once- from what I gather, his zords fought their zords while he confronted Ron directly-, and it didn't exactly go according to plan," Syliva explained with a smile. "In the end, Ron was able to essentially 'purify' the gem with his own faith in their fight against Voldemort, and the Black Gem abandoned Malfoy, flew away, and... well, it landed somewhere near me, I picked it up, and spent the next few weeks getting a crash course in how to use this thing before I felt that I was ready to introduce myself to the rest of the team."

"Trouble controlling the gem?" Conner speculated.

"That was one detail- it was designed for a wizard, so I needed to focus a lot more at first because I had to concentrate a lot to compensate for my lack of magic-, and the fact that I wasn't entirely sure if I deserved it," Sylvia clarified, shrugging in a slightly awkward manner at the memory. "I mean, my childish dreams aside, I wasn't expecting to become a Ranger as I thought that I was too self-centred- I mean, when I was younger I actually blackmailed a _Power Ranger _to spend time with me just because I didn't want to be alone-, and there I was, becoming part of a fight against a psychopathic dark wizard?"

"We're all flawed, Sylvia," Conner said, smiling reassuringly at her. "Hey, back when I started as a Ranger, I was going to ditch it on pretty much my first time out just because it conflicted with my soccer schedule, but I stuck around for one last mission and realised that helping people as a Ranger was more important than any other dreams I might have had back then."

"That's life as a Ranger, huh?" Sylvia said, a slightly dejected smile at the thought. "An incredible experience, but everything else has to come second."

Looking up at Sylvia as she sat on the edge of his chair, Conner smiled at the female Black Ranger as she placed a hand on his shoulder, the two exchanging a brief smile before Conner heard the door open. Looking in the direction of the door to the room, Conner was surprised to see Kira looking at him and Sylvia with an expression that could almost be described as hurt, but she closed the door and the sound of footsteps as she walked away down the corridor left Conner uncertain about pursuing that particular train of thought any further.

He couldn't have seen that properly; Kira _couldn't _be jealous that he was getting along with Sylvia...

Could she?

* * *

Even if Hermione knew that working out how to get home would have to be her priority, she couldn't resist the chance to research more details about the history of this world. She, Ethan and Doctor Oliver had volunteered to assist Amanda and Billy Cranston- she had to admit, the original Blue Ranger was indeed as intelligent as Jason's stories had suggested, if what he'd accomplished so far was any example-, but while their efforts had generally met with promising results so far, there was still no way for them to be sure that they were even looking for Jason in the correct place; they still needed to work out some way to confirm whether Jason was just in the palace or some pocket dimension prison of some sort...

Quite frankly, she was glad that Billy was taking point in their research into that area, given that he had greater experience in what they were doing right now; it gave her a chance to stop worrying about finding solutions and focus instead on learning a few new facts about this world.

"This is _incredible_!" she said, studying Amanda's laptop computer with a broad smile; the idea that someone had found a way around the natural interference preventing technology from working in areas like Hogwarts was one of the most incredible things she'd ever seen. "When you told me that American wizards were working on ways to better blend in with the non-Magical community, I certainly wasn't expecting _this! _You Americans have really gone the distance!"

"Well," Amanda said, shrugging nonchalantly, "the Department of Magic felt that working out how to make devices like computers and such work for wizards was an obvious step to take; if Project: Chameleon is going to be a success, the wizards are going to need to be up-to-date, after all."

"Project: Chameleon?" Hermione repeated inquiringly. "What's that?"

"Well," Amanda replied, settling herself more comfortably into her chair as she began to explain, "to simplify things, the reason that the Magical community of Europe haven't been discovered by non-Magicals yet is because Europe still has enough space to allow wizards to spread themselves out. But here in the United States, the non-Magical population is steadily growing to the point that American wizards would have a more difficult time keeping themselves concealed."

"Which is where this Project: Chameleon comes in?" Hermione asked.

"Exactly," Amanda nodded. "It was the Industrial Revolution that gave the Department of Magic at the time the general ideas that would come together and form the basis for Project: Chameleon. They decided that the best way to preserve the Statue of Secrecy would be to hide themselves in plain sight. American wizards stopped wearing robes and began wearing the latest fashions, the Salem Witch's Institute changed its name to the Salem Institute for Magic and started adding classes like science and physical education to its curriculum."

Hermione wasn't entirely sure what that said about the wizarding world back in Britain, really; she'd spent so long focusing on what was relevant for her schoolwork that she hadn't spent that much time doing research about magical history outside of Britain.

She knew that the Ministry of Magic had its problems, of course- Umbridge alone was evidence of how narrow-minded some of them could be, and that was before she factored in how the rest of the Ministry had treated Harry over the last couple of years, alternating between taking no action against Voldemort and making useless arrests just to give the _impression _that they were doing something-, but she didn't really think of them as backward; most wizards these days were married to muggle-borns, and even Mr Weasley's interest in muggle technology reflected some kind of interest in the way the 'other half' worked, even if he could choose a more appropriate way to explore his interest than just tinkering with things and seeing what happened...

"The next phase of Project: Chameleon," Amanda continued, drawing Hermione's attention back to the Patronus Force White Ranger, "came in the form of the building of several small towns that had the appearance of your basic small town except with businesses that served two functions like, for example; a cleaning supply store for non-Magicals that doubled as a racing broom dealership for Magi."

"And what do American wizards use for transportation?" Hermione asked.

"Well, we've got a Floo network and broomsticks for when the occasion calls for it, but mostly we just use conventional cars," Amanda explained. "For entertainment, we have our own TV stations, listen to rock music, and play various sports ranging from Quidditch and Quodpot to football and baseball."

"I... see..." Hermione said, briefly musing on how comparatively forward-thinking America seemed to be compared to Britain before she pushed it aside; it wasn't like progress didn't have its own downsides, and who was to say that British wizarding society wasn't better off for its focus on the personal touch rather than the impersonal but faster digital methods of this world?

Still, those kind of questions were getting into areas that Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to explore right now; she was all for encouraging social development to improve the status of non-humans back home, but adapting muggle technology on that kind of scale was getting into far more awkward territory for her.

"So..." she asked, trying to find a suitable way of continuing to ask questions about this particular topic, "how did you end up getting so interested in all this technology?"

"You'll have to blame my grandpa for that," Amanda replied with a slight blush as she shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "He's kind of an eccentric when it comes to building and inventing things, and I guess that you can say that some of that rubbed off on me."

"Well," Hermione replied reassuringly, "from what I've seen of your work thus far, if your brother's battle armour and the Werewolf Battlezord are what you're capable of normally, I'm certain that your grandfather would be _extremely_ proud of you."

"Oh!" Amanda said, snapping her fingers as a thought occurred to her. "That reminds me..."

As Hermione watched, Amanda turned the laptop on and moved the mouse icon onto a file folder, which opened to reveal the diagram of an egg-shaped object.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, looking curiously at the diagram.

"_That_," Amanda answered with obvious pride in her voice, "is my new Magi-Cell Battery! Once we get your Zords back, I'll be able to install one of these into the main power systems and each one of your primary Guardian Zords will have the ability to use magic, thus giving you a new edge against the Dark Dork!"

"Hold on; the _zords _will be able to use _magic_?" Hermione said, looking at the object on the screen with renewed appreciation; the idea that it could do something like that was...

For once, Hermione was lost for words.

"_Wow_," she said at last.

"Thank you," Amanda said, leaning back in her chair with a satisfied smile. "Am I awesome or what?"

The smile faded from their faces as Amanda's communicator suddenly sounded, prompting her to sit back up and activate the device. "Amanda here."

"_Amanda_," Alan's voice said on the other end of the line, "_you and Hermione need to get to the Command Centre; Ivan's kidnapped a civilian_!"

"A _civilian_?" Amanda said, clearly confused at this turn of events. "Who?"

"Unfortunately," Alan replied, with a tone that suggested he would rather be helping anyone than the victim in question, "_it's Harry and Elizabeth's cousin, Dudley_."

"_DUDLEY_?" Hermione yelled incredulously. "As in _Dudley Dursley_?"

"_No need to shout, Hermione; I'm blond, not deaf_," Alan replied. "_But yes, it's Dudley Dursley_."

_Great_... Hermione thought to herself, barely even registering Billy's assurances that he could handle the situation here as she and Amanda teleported out of the lab.

She knew that being a Ranger meant saving everyone, but why did they end up getting stuck having to risk their necks for the cousin who'd spent his childhood treating her brother in all but blood like he was worthless?

* * *

As Hermione reappeared in the Command Centre, she was only slightly surprised to see Ron working at one of the other consoles with Doctor Oliver and Ethan; given that all three of their teams were currently working together, Ron was probably the best person to offer tactical insight to the Blue and Black Dino Thunder Rangers about what their own team was capable of if they finally found themselves facing open combat. Looking over at another part of the Command Centre revealed a more significant surprise in the form of an unknown young woman standing alongside the other five Patronus Force Rangers, the new arrival wearing a purple sweater and blue trousers over a white blouse, with long dark hair hanging down from underneath a purple cap.

"Megs!" Amanda cried, grinning at the sight of the unfamiliar woman as the two exchanged a quick hug. "When did you get here?"

"Just now," 'Megs' replied, before turning to smile at Hermione. "Hi, I'm Megan Wilkins, Sean's sister; you are?"

"Uh... Hermione Granger; Blue Hogwarts Guardian Ranger," Hermione replied, smiling uncertainly at the new arrival. "And... you are?"

"I was just asking that when you showed up," Doctor Oliver said, looking curiously at Megan. "Are you another Patronus Force Ranger?"

"No," Megan replied, shaking her head in dejection. "I _wanted _to be one, but there were only five Morphicon Crystals at the time."

"At the time?" Ethan said, looking up at Zordon curiously. "What does that mean?"

"LIKE SEAN, MEGAN WAS PRESENT WHEN THE RANGERS RECEIVED THEIR POWERS," Zordon explained. "WHILE SHE WAS UNABLE TO RECEIVE POWERS HERSELF AT THE TIME, SINCE THEN, SHE HAS PROVEN HERSELF TO BE A TRUSTED ALLY AND FRIEND."

"Ah," Hermione said, nodding in understanding.

"NOW THAT EVERYONE IS HERE," Zordon said, his attention shifting to address the whole room, "WHAT IS BILLY'S PROGRESS ON THE MOLECULAR DECODERS?"

"They'll be ready soon," Hermione replied. "We're just... well, we're still not certain if Jason is being held inside Zedd's fortress itself or one of those prison dimensions."

"ALAN WILL BE IN COMMAND OF THE RESCUE TEAM AND HE HAS ALSO VOICED THIS CONCERN," Zordon said (Hermione bit back her initial frustration at having to 'delegate' command like that; Jason might be their teammate, but Alan did have superior knowledge of the local threat). "HOWEVER, I BELIEVE THAT ALPHA CAN MAKE A SLIGHT ALTERATION TO YOUR GUARDIAN GEM; IF WE ARE CORRECT IN OUR THEORY, YOU WILL THEN BE ABLE TO USE YOUR GEM TO LOCATE THE WHITE GUARDIAN RANGER SHOULD HE BE LOCATED WITHIN ZEDD'S PALACE."

"But what about Dudley?" Alan asked. "I mean, from what I've seen of him, the guy's a major league jackass-"

"Trust me, he's not any more pleasant no matter how much time you spend with him," Ron noted grimly.

"Right," Alan said, nodding briefly at Ron before he turned back to Zordon. "But the point is, we can't leave him up there no matter how much we would want to."

"What would Ivan even _want _with that guy, anyway?" Nathan asked.

"THE REASONING BEHIND THE ABDUCTION OF DUDLEY DURSLEY IS JUST AS MUCH OF A MYSTERY TO MYSELF AS IT IS TO YOU, BLACK RANGER," Zordon replied. "HOWEVER, IT STILL REMAINS YOUR MAIN PRIORITY AS POWER RANGERS TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT, AND DESPITE THE ACTIONS OF BOTH DUDLEY AND HIS FATHER, HE IS STILL AN INNOCENT."

Looking over at Ron, Hermione didn't need her long experience with her friend to know how Ron felt about that; Dudley might be the muggle equivalent of Draco Malfoy as far as Harry was concerned, but he still hadn't actually done anything to merit them wanting him _dead_...

"Aye-yi-yi!" Alpha's voice suddenly yelled as alarms began to blare throughout the Command Centre. "Rangers, I've located Dudley in the park!"

"Bring him up on the Viewing Globe, Alpha," Alan said.

Looking at the glowing white orb, it quickly focused on the image of a section of the Angel Grove Park, with Dudley Dursley bound by chains to a large post and surrounded by a platoon of Tengas.

"Alright," Alan said, smiling grimly at the sight, "let's get Dudley out of there and then get on with rescuing Jason."

"I don't like this," Doctor Oliver said, looking grimly at the Viewing Globe. "It's too haphazard for everything I've heard about Ivan since we got here; there's _got _to be more to this whole mess than just giving us a hostage situation to worry about..."

"And why kidnap this guy anyway?" Ethan added, as he looked over at Elizabeth. "I mean, I get that he's your cousin, but from what I've heard it doesn't exactly sound like you spent much time with him before now; did you even know he existed apart from as a name?"

"Look, I'm all for dissecting the bad guy's motives, but we don't have time for that now," Alan said, looking grimly over at the Blue Dino Thunder Ranger. "Whatever Ooze was trying to do by capturing Dudley, he's in danger now so we're going to have to deal with it."

"INDEED," Zordon said solemnly from his tube. "AND, ON THE TOPIC OF DEALING WITH THE CRISIS IN FRONT OF US, BEFORE YOU DEPART, ALPHA AND I HAVE A NEW PROJECT THAT IT IS TIME TO SHARE WITH YOU."

"What's that?" Jake asked curiously.

"IN ORDER TO HELP YOU RESERVE YOUR POWER FOR MORE DANGEROUS OPPONENTS, ALPHA AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING TO MERGE SOME OF THE ENERGY FROM THE POWER COINS TO YOUR MORPHICON CRYSTALS," Zordon explained. "YOU NOW POSSESS THE ABILITY TO CALL UPON YOUR OWN VERSION OF THE NINJA POWERS TO COMBAT THE TENGA WARRIORS, RATHER THAN IMMEDIATELY MORPHING INTO YOUR FULL RANGER FORM. IN ORDER TO SUMMON YOUR NINJA POWERS, SIMPLY USE THE VOCAL COMMAND- _NINJA RANGER POWER_."

"Well," Alan said, after exchanging glances with his teammates, "let's give it a try. _Ninja Ranger Power- Now_!"

In a flash, all six of the Patronus Force Rangers were dressed in the brightly-coloured Ninja garb that Hermione recognised from old news reports of the days when the Rangers of her world had fought the Tengas; the presence of a green ninja instead of a pink one might be a little disconcerting at first, but it was a minor tweak in the overall scheme of things.

"Whoa!" Nathan said, nodding in approval at his new attire. "Very nice!"

"All right then, guys," Alan said, smiling over at his team. "Let's give these ninja powers a little test-drive!"

With that, the Patronus Force Rangers made a quick gesture and vanished in an explosion of coloured smoke, leaving Megan and the four dimensionally-relocated Rangers standing around the Command Centre,

"Well, that was interesting," Megan said with a smile. "I just hope Goldar doesn't have anymore of those Red Candles laying around-"

"Hold on; _Red _Candles?" Doctor Oliver said, looking anxiously over at the room's only non-Ranger human present. "Did you say that Goldar had a _Red _Candle?"

Hermione briefly thought of asking what the problem was, but then she remembered one of the stories that Jason had told them about his own career as a Ranger; the time when Rita, their original enemy, had destroyed the Green Ranger's powers by linking them to a green candle made from a magical wax, that essentially drained the Green Ranger's powers away as it melted down...

Given that Tommy had been the Ranger in question to fall victim to that particular plan, it was no wonder he was concerned at the reference.

"Yeah," Megan said, nodding at Doctor Oliver. "It was something left over from one of Zedd's old plots; Goldar used it on Alan to try and assume both Alan's Ranger powers _and _his magic, and Alan had to go into Goldar's pocket dimension alone and unmorphed while the others had to deal with this monster called the Octobot to get it back."

It might sound like the essential details had been dealt with from that crisis, but Hermione didn't need to be a Ranger to know that the past could come back and bite you when you least expected it...

* * *

As he sat in the car alongside his mother, Harry wondered what it said about his current state of mind that the thing he was having the most difficulty adapting to right now was the fact that he was wearing new, thinner glasses rather than his traditional thicker-framed ones, rather than the fact that he was sitting alongside the mother who should be dead.

He supposed that a part of it could be arguably because he'd probably end up keeping the new glasses while his current contact with his mother was a simple accident due to cross-dimension travel that would eventually end when he and the rest of his team managed to return to their worlds, but he just couldn't be sure; psychology wasn't exactly a particular strength of his...

"So," his mother asked, looking curiously at him, "how do you like our new home?"

"It's... it's nice," Harry replied, trying to think of suitably vague answers that could apply whatever your thoughts on Angel Grove were; he didn't want to attract too many questions in case his other self looked for different things in a home than he did. "It's not as crowded as London, and most of the people seem... well, more pleasant to be around..."

"Well, we _will _run across the occasional toerag once in a while, don't make any mistake about _that, _but we can finally live our lives as the family we should have been from the start," Lily said, shrugging slightly even as she smiled warmly at him. "Oh, and Andrea's invited us over for dinner so I want you to wear some of those new clothes."

"Andrea?" Harry asked, unable to restrain his confusion.

"Andrea Black," Lily said, looking at him reassuringly; evidently the excuse that his memories had been scrambled by his captivity was still enough for her to accept the occasional anomaly. "Alan and Amanda's mother? The woman who Dumbledore forced to marry Sirius-"

"_Forced_?" Harry said, sitting upright in his seat and staring incredulously at her.

He might not know what this 'Andrea' was like, but the idea of Dumbledore forcing Sirius into a marriage...

"I'm sorry Harry," Lily said, pulling into a nearby closed gas station to park the car. "None of you kids were ever supposed to know about this, but since I opened my big mouth, and since you're mature enough to handle this, I suppose I should go ahead and tell you."

Harry tried not to feel too satisfied at the news that his mother thought that he was mature enough to handle the news; after Dumbledore had concealed so much information from him over the last few years, it was somehow satisfying to learn that his mother believed he could cope with things, even if she was basing that assumption on his other self more than him.

"You see, sweetheart," Lily said, pausing for a moment before she continued to speak, "there's a number of reasons why Andrea and I severed all ties with Dumbledore and the Order, the main one being that we both wanted to bring you kids here to the States so you can live free and happy."

Harry nodded as though he'd already known about this, waiting for her to continue this new story about this world's history.

"But there's another, more... frightening reason," Lily said, looking awkwardly at him. "You see, Jason Beaumont, Andrea's first husband, came from an old and very powerful magical family with more than a few ancient secrets. Using his spy network here in the United States, Dumbledore caught wind that one of these secrets was a special library that the Beaumont family owned; a library that housed a weapon so powerful, it could destroy magic itself..."

Lily trailed off as she spoke, clearly uncertain about what she was about to say.

"And this... _weapon_," Harry said, looking uncertainly at her. "Does it... does it really...?"

"Exist?" Lily finished for him, shaking her head in response to Harry's confirming nod. "We don't know if either the library or the weapon exists or not; only the Head of the Beaumont family can learn of any particularly dangerous secrets, but Dumbledore certainly seems to believe that it does, and if this weapon exists, both Andrea and I want to make sure that Dumbledore never gets his hands on it, do you understand?"

Harry could only nod quietly at that, even as he privately wondered what could have happened in this world to make his mum worried about _Dumbledore _getting his hands on a weapon like that; Harry wasn't naive enough to think that something that dangerous would be completely safe in Dumbledore's hands, but his mother seemed to be implying that it would be genuinely dangerous for him to get his hands on it...

"You can't tell anyone about this conversation, Harry," Lily said, looking at him with a sudden intensity behind her stare. "Not Alan, Amanda, _or _your sister; this _has _to stay between us. You promise?"

"I promise," Harry said quietly, knowing even as he said those words that he was going to break that vow; this might not be his world, and the weapon might not be real, but something that potentially dangerous was something that the Power Rangers _had _to know about...

"That's my boy," Lily said, giving him a hug that Harry didn't think he deserved before she restarted the car. "Let's get back to our shopping, shall we?"

* * *

Watching the fight unfolding on the viewscreen in front of him as Alpha studied his and Ethan's Dino Gems, Ron and Hermione alternating between brainstorming battle strategies and watching the fight as well, Tommy wished that he could relax at the sight of how well this world's team were handling the threat before them, even as he knew that this was too simple.

The Ninja Ranger powers might be new additions to the Patronus Force's arsenal, but if things had become too dangerous they could have just morphed to deal with the threat at hand; Tengas were a fair challenge in Ninja form, but the only reason the Rangers didn't just morph to Ranger form to tackle them that way immediately was the rule against escalating the battle unless forced to do so. As it was, the current fight would be tricky, but any Ranger worth their colour could deal with it, which raised the question of why Ooze would do something like this in the first place...

"It's... not much of a challenge, is it?" Ron said, the Yellow Guardian Ranger's voice confirming Tommy's thoughts as they studied the fight on the Viewing Globe, Alan throwing off a group of Tengas that had tried to dogpile him with a wolf-like howl that was probably some unique manifestation of his powers similar to Tommy's own dino power of invisibility (Why was it that Rangers these days kept on getting new additions like that to their arsenals?). "I mean, numbers make it difficult, but it's nothing Alan and that lot can't handle; I thought this 'Ooze' sod was meant to be smart..."

"Tell me about it," Ethan said, nodding in agreement at Ron as Alan practically whirled his way through the tengas around him, his Patronus Sabre cutting through his adversaries with almost disturbing ease. "Those bird-things aren't that much; you'd think that someone like Ooze would at least have time to create a new monster to guard his hostage..."

"There!" Alpha said, stepping back from Tommy and Ethan and turning to look at Zordon, holding up the scanner with that strange sense of satisfaction in his appearance that Alpha somehow always managed to convey despite his featureless head. "Now that we have the energy signatures of Tommy and Ethan's Dino Gems, we can now make the appropriate adjustments to the Shogun Zords to allow their team to use them!"

"WELL DONE, ALPHA," Zordon said, nodding in approval at the robot. "ONCE WE HAVE ALL OF THE DINO GEMS KEYED IN TO OUR SYSTEMS, THE DINO THUNDER RANGERS WILL BE ABLE TO CALL UPON THE SHOGUN ZORDS; I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IVAN IS UP TO, BUT IT IS BEST THAT WE PREPARE OURSELVES."

The Shogun Zords...

The circumstances under which they'd been acquired hadn't been ideal, but there was something Tommy had always liked about those zords; it was the first time all Rangers had possessed zords capable of holding their own against the monsters without needing the others to be there as well.

Teamwork might be an important part of being a Ranger, but Billy's victory over that brick-monster thing- he couldn't remember the creature's name off the top of his head, but it wasn't really important right now- had proven the crucial advantage that the Shogunzords had over past zords; taking out _most _of the team would no longer be enough to completely render them zord-less if Rita or Zedd chose to make the monster grow earlier...

Tommy's thoughts were cut off by a sudden flash of dark red light and a startled scream from Megan, prompting the other Rangers to spin around to see what seemed to be Harry- Tommy had encountered too many phony Rangers to immediately accept that it _was _Harry- holding Megan's hair in one hand with the blade of a wicked-looking dagger held against her throat with the other.

"_Harry_?" Hermione practically yelped in shock. "What are you doing?"

"STAY BACK, HERMIONE," Zordon said, looking at the new arrival with a kind of shocked anger that Tommy couldn't recall witnessing from his Zordon. "THAT IS _NOT _THE RED HOGWARTS GUARDIAN."

"You've got _that _right, old man!" 'Harry' snarled at Zordon, putting Tommy uncomfortably in mind of his own attack on Zordon when he'd originally been put under Rita's spell and received the Green Power Coin. "I'm the Red _Dark _Ranger!"

"And _we_," a disturbingly familiar yet also altered voice said from another direction, "are Ivan's Dark Rangers!"

Turning to face the direction of the new speaker, Tommy shuddered at the sight of Ron, Hermione and Ginny stepping out of the shadows, their all-black eyes and slightly older appearance the only thing to physically distinguish them from the versions that Tommy had met back in his original world.

"Oh, _Merlin_..." Ron said, his voice low and his eyes widening in horror at the sight in front of him, Hermione instinctively reaching for his hand as she stared at her own counterpart.

"Come on then," Dark Harry said, sneering over at his 'teammates' as he jerked Megan's head slightly via his grip on her hair. "Let's get our Purple Ranger back to Ooze-"

"NO!" Ron yelled, broken out of his shock by this threat as he lunged desperately towards Dark Harry, arms outstretched as though he was prepared to yank Megan to safety, only for his counterpart to blast him into the wall with a malevolent-looking black wand.

"_RON_!" Hermione yelled as her friend struck the wall, only to find herself facing the wands of her and Ginny's counterparts before she could draw her own.

"Don't worry," her counterpart said, staring mockingly at Hermione's terrified expression. "Ivan doesn't want you dead... _yet_."

With that ominous warning, the four Dark Rangers vanished, taking Megan with them and leaving Tommy, Ethan and Hermione to look apprehensively at each other.

Even if Tommy was trying to focus on the positives that nobody had been killed, the rest of him was already considering the task that was now facing them; how were they going to rescue the Hogwarts' Guardians' counterparts when they were all evil Power Rangers?

Had being a Power Ranger _ever _been easy?


	46. New Perils Approach

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Our collaboration efforts continue

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Studying his new creation, Voldemort smiled in satisfaction at the resulting manifestation.

The creature itself had taken a lot of energy from his new wand to generate, of course, but it wasn't like he entirely needed it; with the Hogwarts Guardians out of the picture, he could afford to rely on his original wand for the future rather than this one.

Besides, it should allow him to metaphorically tackle two birds with one stone; not only would it ensure the destruction of the Hogwarts Guardians, but it would also provide him with ready access to a new world to conquer once he had established his authority over _this _world...

"What are my orders, master?" the new creature said, looking solemnly at him. In its natural state, the creature was a tall silver in colour, with shining square 'gauntlets' around its wrists and a long blade hanging from its waist, as well as a high pointed head with a prominent nose.

"Remain undercover until you have established the situation in that world," Voldemort said, staring firmly at the creature in front of him; it might be as loyal to him as any of his creations, but it was also significantly more intelligent than the average creature he had created so far, and it was important to ensure that it fully understood what he was asking of it. "Once you have established what has happened to the 'Hogwarts Guardians', you can get back in touch with me, and then..."

He smiled. "Well, we shall see how things develop from there."

"Understood," the creature said, nodding at Voldemort before it raised its hand, waving them in a complicated pattern to open a rift in the air, which it walked through as casually as any other door before the rift sealed up behind it.

Smiling in satisfaction, Voldemort sat back in his throne and set himself down to wait for his newest creation to tell him what he wanted to know.

It might take a while for his new creation to find the information that he was looking for, but he would soon _know _what had befallen the Hogwarts Guardians.

In the meantime, it was time for him to turn his attention back to searching for Harry Potter...

* * *

Looking at the images on the Viewing Globe, Tommy wondered if this was anything like what the original Rangers had felt when they'd learned who was under the Green Ranger's helmet. Learning that Trent was the White Ranger hadn't been a complete shock at the time- he had experience with the 'evil Ranger' idea to guess that Trent was under a spell, and he'd admittedly not been particularly close to the younger man before everything happened whereas Jason and Kimberly in particular had at least made an effort to befriend him before Rita abducted him (Even Kira's interest at the time was more of a passing curiosity than anything else; Tommy had always thought that, if Trent hadn't become the focus on their latest crisis, she would have eventually seen the truth)...

"I... I just can't believe it..." Elizabeth said softly, her eyes widening in horror at the sight of the alternate Harry holding a knife to Megan's throat and clearly willing to use it; the other Hogwarts Guardians and Dino Thunder Rangers were still off either researching possible battle strategies or trying to blend in with the cover identities they'd assumed here (If they were stuck here for an length of time, they needed to ensure that they could support themselves).

"At least now we know they're alive," Alan said, holding her close as he looked comfortingly at her. "As soon as Billy gets here with the Decoders, we'll be able to rescue them, as well."

"I'M AFRAID THAT RESTORING THE DARK RANGERS TO THEIR FORMER SELVES WILL NOT BE AN EASY TASK, RED RANGER," Zordon said, looking solemnly at them from his tube (Tommy was just grateful that this Zordon was in a different tube from the one 'his' Zordon had used; this whole mess was confusing enough without the reminder of how he'd been unable to save his original mentor). "ALPHA, CONCENTRATE THE IMAGES ON THE DARK RANGERS' WANDS."

As Alpha made the necessary adjustments, the Rangers watched as the image focused on Dark Ron's attack on the Ron Tommy had known already- the Yellow Guardian was still unconscious on the Command Centre's medical table, Hermione anxiously watching him despite Alpha's assurances that he would be back on his feet in no time-, until the Viewing Globe displayed nothing but the Black Dark Ranger's wand hand and the black wand clutched in his fingers.

"WHILE THE DARK RANGERS WERE WITHIN THE COMMAND CENTER FOR ONLY A BRIEF TIME," Zordon explained, "ALPHA WAS ABLE TO GET A COMPLETE SCAN ON THEM, AND THE WANDS IN THEIR POSSESSION HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AS BEING THE DARK WANDS. THEY ARE CREATED FROM A SPECIAL METAL AND ARE ENCHANTED WITH A DARK SPELL DESIGNED TO CORRUPT ANYONE UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH THEM."

"So, you're saying that these... _Dark Wands_... are the rest that Harry and the others are acting like junior Death Eaters?" Amanda asked.

"Is that anything like the Sword of Darkness?" Tommy asked, looking curiously at Zordon before he could stop himself asking the question; even after so many years had passed, it was still uncomfortable to remember the way he'd been back when he'd been under Rita's spell.

"THE CONCEPT OF BOTH IS SIMILAR, TOMMY," Zordon confirmed, nodding briefly at him. "AS WITH THE SWORD OF DARKNESS, THE DARK WANDS ARE TIED TO THE SPELL THAT HAS CORRUPTED HARRY AND THE OTHERS; HAVING PROGRAMMED AND PREPARED THEIR MINDS WITH THE APPROPRIATE SPELLS, IVAN WOULD HAVE PROVIDED HIS PRISONERS WITH THE DARK WANDS, WITH THE WANDS BECOMING BOUND TO THEI USERS THE FIRST TIME THEY WERE USED TO CAST A SPELL. AS WHEN RITA GAVE YOU THE SWORD OF DARKNESS, THIS WOULD ENSURE THAT THE DARK RANGERS WILL BE BOUND TO OOZE'S WILL FOREVER, PROVIDING THE SPELL WITH A PHYSICAL FOCUS TO REINFORCE ITS WILL AGAINST THEIR NATURAL DESIRES TO DO GOOD."

"So... what?" Ethan asked, looking thoughtfully over at Tommy as though trying to remember something before he looked back at Ooze. "Break the spell by destroying the wands, right?"

"ESSENTIALLY, YES," Zordon confirmed. "UNFORTUNATELY, THE WANDS ARE MORE SUBTLE THAN THE SWORD OF DARKNESS, AND IVAN IS LESS SELF-ASSURED IN HIS POWER THAN RITA WAS; WHILE RITA'S CONFIDENCE IN HER PLANS CAN BE HER UNDOING, IVAN PREFERS TO TAKE ACTION WHEN HE IS CERTAIN THAT HIS CHANCES OF SUCCESS ARE GREATEST."

"In other words... what?" Alan asked. "I mean, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Fred look like they're essentially the evil versions of us, so why didn't Ivan use them earlier?"

"OVER TIME, THE DARK WAND'S SPELL WILL REACH A POINT WHERE THE UERS WILL BE PERMANTENTLY CORRUPTED BY ITS POWER, WITHOUT THE NEED FOR THE WAND TO REINFORCE ITS COMMANDS," Zordon explained solemnly.

"And, let me guess; based on scans we took while they were in here, that time's coming up?" Tommy asked, sighing in frustration when Zordon nodded in confirmation. "Terrific... how long do we have before the point of no return?"

"IF THE TIMING IS CORRECT, FROM THE MOMENT THE DARK RANGERS WERE ABDUCTED TO NOW, I ESTIMATE THAT WE HAVE AT LEAST TWO MORE DAYS BEFORE THE SPELL BECOME IRREVERSIBLE," Zordon replied.

"That doesn't give us a lot of time," Alan said, his voice contemplative as he looked around at his teammates. "Once we get Jason and Megan back, we'll need a plan to draw the Dark Rangers out before things go too far..."

"Well, it's good that I'm just about finished here," Billy said, looking over at the others with a slight smile as he twisted the dial on the devices he'd been working on. "The Molecular Decoders are primed and ready. Once you step through the portal, you should find yourselves in the lower levels of Zedd's palace; you'll then have two hours to find Jason and Megan and get back to your arrival point _before _the portal closes."

"ONCE AGAIN, YOU HAVE RISEN TO THE OCCASSION WITH EXCEPTIONAL SKILL, BILLY," Zordon said, nodding in approval at the original Blue Ranger before he turned to address the current team leader. "ALAN, HAVE YOU MADE YOUR DECISION CONCERNING YOUR TEAM FOR THIS MISSION?"

"I have," Alan said, nodding in confirmation at Zordon. "I've chosen Hermione since her gem has been tuned into Jason's own, and I also ask that Doctor Oliver be the third man on the team; he has had more experience with entering the fortress, and that experience would be of great value to us."

"You don't even have to ask," Tommy said, smiling in approval of Alan's team choice even as he nodded in firm determination. "It's not even a question; after all the times that Jason's gone all-out to help me when I needed it, I owe him. I'm in."

"And me," Hermione added. "After all, we're all Rangers here, right?"

"All right," Alan said, nodding gratefully at Tommy and Hermione. "I suggest that we morph before going through; there's no telling what else Ivan's cooked up."

"Agreed," Tommy said, as he and Hermione took up positions on either side of the Red Patronus Ranger.

"Doctor Oliver," Alan said, smiling slightly at the palaeontologist, "will you do the honours?"

"It's been a while," Tommy said, smiling as he registered what Alan was asking him to do, "but here goes; _It's Morphin' Time_!"

Summoning their morphers, the three Rangers made their calls.

"Red Wolf Patronus Power!"

"Dino Thunder, Power Up!"

"Ravenclaw Guardian, _attivare_!"

As their familiar costumes appeared over them, Billy gave them a brief nod as he activated the Molecular Decoders, generating a portal between the twin devices that opened into a vacant corridor in what had to be the Moon Palace.

"Good luck, guys," Billy said solemnly.

"Thanks, Billy," Alan said, before looking back at Tommy and Hermione. "Ivan has something that belongs to _us _and I say that now's the time to get them back! Let's go!"

It was a bit cliché and obvious, but, as Tommy leapt through the portal after the Red Ranger of this world, followed by the latest Blue Ranger of his world, he would be lying if he said that he hadn't missed it.

* * *

Sitting in the corner of his cell in frustration out of a lack of anything else to do, Jason couldn't believe that he'd let himself be tricked so easily.

He'd been suspicious of how relatively easy it had been to get out of the cell and into the corridors leading to the cave where the Zeo Crystal was located, but he'd just assumed that Ooze was being too overconfident while falling into the same goddamn trap himself; now he was stuck in this stupid cell all over again, chains removed and replaced by a serious of securely-fastened bars that he strongly doubted Saba would be able to cut through no matter what he tried.

The thing that concerned him the most right now, however, was the fact that there was someone else in his cell right now; a dark-haired girl, apparently the same age as the rest of his current teammates, dressed in a purple top and blue trousers over a white blouse that looked like it might be a school uniform of some kind, along with some kind of black device strapped to her wrist that put Jason uncomfortably in mind of a morpher.

They might not have taken his morpher from him yet, but Jason had little doubt that it was only because he was still morphed and Ooze didn't want to jeopardise his health by taking the White Gem from him against his will in case he needed a hostage later; sticking him in this cell while morphed might demonstrate that they weren't afraid of the possibility of him breaking out, but it also gave him hope that escape was possible...

The only advantage was that at least Jason could be reasonably sure that his new 'guest' wasn't an 'inside agent' or anything like that; Ooze had already used the mind-probe on him, which meant it was unlikely that there was any information he could acquire via interrogation that he hadn't learned that way already, and there was also the simple fact that Ooze just didn't strike him as patient enough to try something like that.

Thoughts on her presence here were ended when the unconscious girl began to stir, weakly opening her eyes and pushing herself up from the ground with a slow, painful moan, clearly weakened by whatever Ooze and his followers had done to her before throwing her in here.

"Good to see you're awake," Jason said as the girl registered the presence of the bars covering the door leading out of their cell, prompting her to turn around and look at him in shock, flinching backwards with a scream as she suddenly started patting herself all over as though trying to make sure that everything was still there.

"Uh... are you OK?" Jason asked, after the new arrival had ceased examining herself, the younger girl looking at him in confusion.

"Who... who are you?" the girl asked, her voice shaking slightly as she looked at him in confusion.

Standing up, Jason walked over to look at her more closely, the girl visibly brightening as he stepped forward to stand in front of her.

"You... you're _Jason_!" she said, grinning broadly at him.

"How'd you-?" Jason began to ask, only to be cut off as the girl threw her arms around him in a sudden hug.

"Thank _God_!" she said, releasing him and stepping back, a broad smile still on her face. "Listen, Alan's forming a rescue team and they're going to use Billy's Molecular Decoders to open up a time-space portal so they can come and rescue you!"

"I _knew _those guys wouldn't let me down!" Jason said, grinning as he took in the first bit of good news he'd had for a while, before he focused his attention back on his new cellmate. "Uh... sorry if this sounds rude, but who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Here we go again..." the girl sighed, rolling her eyes in frustration. "OK, first off, would you mind taking that helmet off so I won't feel like I'm talking to an inanimate object?"

For a moment, Jason hesitated- unmasking wasn't exactly something that was encouraged in the Ranger game, after all-, but since she seemed to know who he was anyway, Jason finally just reached up and undid the clasps on his helmet, removing it to leave the girl staring at him.

"Oh, _wow_!" she breathed, a smile on her face. "You're really cute for an older guy."

"Uh... thanks," Jason said, stuck for any other response he could make to that statement, prompting the girl to blush as though she'd only just processed what she'd said.

"I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "I didn't mean to say that out loud. I was just surprised to see what Alan's childhood hero looked like under his helmet; of course, you were the Red Ranger back then..."

"OK..." Jason said, raising his eyebrows in surprise at the reference to Alan. "Let's... go back and start over at the part where you were about to tell me your name and how you got here."

"Oh, I'm Megan, Sean's sister," the girl replied, indicating the cell with a frustrated wave of her hand. "As to how I came to be here in this lovely vacation spot, those Dark Rangers kidnapped me right out of the Command Center and now Ooze wants to turn me into one of them!"

"What?!" Jason said, his mind focusing on the part that affected people he knew even as he registered the dangers of the other information Megan had just revealed. "The Dark Rangers were _inside _the Command Centre? Did they hurt Zordon or any of the others?"

"Well, they blasted Ron into a wall when he tried to help me, but everyone else was left alone," Megan replied, before she looked down at the morpher-like device he'd noticed on her wrist earlier. "And what the hell is _this_?"

"Just let me..." Jason said, taking a hold of her wrist to examine it more closely- he was no Billy, but you didn't grow up with the guy without picking up a few tricks-, before he stepped back and looked grimly at her. "Oh man... it's one of Ooze's Dark Ranger morphers."

Staring at the now-identified device in horror, Megan began to desperately yank at the bracelet, only for its immobility to confirm Jason's thoughts; Ooze wasn't going to take the chance that Megan would be able to remove that thing.

"Hang on, Megan," Jason said, drawing Saba from his belt. "Just let me try something here... Saba, do you think you could cut through the strap?"

"Perhaps, if you were to utilise my eyebeams," Saba replied, ignoring the suddenly stunned expression on Megan's face as Jason turned him to study the strap. "It may take some time but it would be far safer than trying to cut it off yourself."

Nodding in agreement, Jason positioned the sword's handle so that Saba was 'facing' the strap holding the Dark Morpher to Megan's arm, generating a thin laser beam from his eyes that quickly set to work on the strap.

"You get used to it," Jason said, shrugging as he noticed Megan's bemused expression as she stared at Saba. "He was actually Tommy's sword originally; I just inherited him with the powers... and now that I think about it, I should maybe mention that I've got him to Tommy; I don't think he's had the chance to notice yet."

"Oh," Megan said, sitting in silence as she stared at Saba as he worked away at the strap holding her morpher in place.

Jason just had to hope that Saba had only been overlooked because Ooze was getting cocky rather than because he couldn't do anything right now; the last thing they needed was a _sixth _Dark Ranger when Ivan was already preparing to unleash the new Psychos on them...

* * *

As she emerged from the dimensional portal into the corridors, Hermione was already studying her Guardian Gem, focusing its energy on the task of finding her missing teammate; Jason might not be one of her oldest friends, but after everything he'd done to help them understand the burdens of being a Ranger, she wasn't going to abandon him now.

She just wished that she had been able to bring more of her team along on this mission; she might trust Tommy given that Jason had evidently trusted him, and Alan had done nothing to show that he wasn't trustworthy, but she still didn't _know _them...

"Picking up anything, Hermione?" Alan asked, as he and Doctor Oliver took up a defensive stance on either side of Hermione, leaving her free to focus on the gem.

"Well, from what I can tell, the White Guardian Gem is... _that _way," Hermione said, indicating one of the connecting passageways. "Unfortunately, that doesn't tell us for certain whether it's above or below our current level, and there's also the question of... well..."

She didn't finish the sentence, but she didn't have to; the other two knew that there was a chance that Ooze would have just taken the Gem off Jason, regardless of the cost to the user.

"What about you, Doc?" Alan asked, glancing over at Doctor Oliver. "Does this area ring any bells?"

For a moment, the Black Dino Thunder Ranger simply studied his surroundings in silence, until he nodded in contemplation.

"Maybe..." he said thoughtfully. "Assuming that the layout of this Moon Palace is the same as it was back in my world, the staircase that leads down to the dungeon area _should _be in the direction Hermione's gem is pointing in."

"Sounds like a plan," Alan said, looking at his teammates with a smile. "OK, Hermione, you take point; Doctor O., watch our backs. Let's roll."

As they ran along the corridor, Hermione wished that she could shake the nagging doubt that this situation was going to be as easy to resolve as it seemed to be so far...

* * *

Standing in the house of his counterpart, Harry wished that he could feel as comfortable as his mother did; even after the day's shopping that they had spent together, along with the cheeseburgers they'd had for lunch at the _Surf Spot_- although he still preferred the Juice Bar for the atmosphere-, he just couldn't shake the feeling of being an intruder in someone else's life.

The worst part was that it wasn't even an inaccurate assessment of the situation; he might be Harry Potter, but he still wasn't the Harry Potter that Lily thought he was, no matter how much he might be like his counterpart or how much Lily might want him to be...

His mother might be comfortable here, but Harry couldn't bring himself to fully relax; no matter how much he might want to stay in this world, with a mother who loved him and a sister who would be there for him that he could never have back home, his priority here had to be getting home, regardless of what would happen to Lily afterwards.

The message he'd received from Hermione earlier about their discovery of what had happened to his counterpart at least gave him some hope that they could get the other Harry back before he left- they might be working on a time limit, but that wasn't anything they hadn't been forced to deal with before, even if this one was more definite than, for example, past occasions where Harry had been trying to save people from Voldemort-, but that still left the question of _how _they were going to free him and Ivan Ooze's other Dark Rangers from his control...

"Mum?" he said, walking into the living room to look at his mother as she lay relaxing on the couch, prompting Lily to look at him with a smile.

"Honey, those look _great _on you!" his mother said, smiling in approval at his new red shirt and dark trousers. "How do they feel?"

"Uh... quite comfortable, actually," Harry said; he still found it slightly strange to be dealing with a biological relative who actually _cared _about what he did.

"You know," Lily said, looking at him with a thoughtful smile, "I've noticed that you picked out quite a few red shirts and Alan has started wearing a lot of red since he got here. Are you two trying to start a trend?"

"Well..." Harry said, shrugging slightly as he raced through his mind for options- Jason had mentioned something about their Ranger colours creating an instinctive 'inclination' towards those colours in their civilian lives, but he hadn't exactly been paying full attention at the time-, before he finally shrugged. "I guess we just like the colour. After all, we both have girlfriends with red hair..."

"You've been dating a girl with red hair?" Lily said, frowning at him in confusion. "What happened with you and Hermione?"

"_Hermione_?" Harry said, his eyes widening in shock at this news before he could stop himself; it wasn't that he didn't _like _Hermione, but she was like his _sister _before she was anything else...

"Well... well, you see-" he began, struggling to come up with some kind of explanation, before the sound of the doorbell drew Lily's attention away from the current topic.

"I'll be right back, sweetheart," she said, groaning as she got up from the couch and walked to the front door, only for her mood to completely change when she opened the door. "_WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU BASTARD_?"

Looking around the corner to see the source of his mother's anger, Harry had no idea how to feel when he witnessed Albus Dumbledore standing outside the door of their house, smiling in his usual grandfatherly way at his mother.

He might have had a good relationship with the Dumbledore of his world, but what he'd heard about _this _world's Dumbledore wasn't exactly encouraging...


	47. Saving the White Ranger

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Our collaboration efforts continue

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Trying not to attract too much attention to himself as he listened to the sound that he'd expected to never hear again- the sound of Albus Dumbledore's usual grandfatherly tone, commenting on how good it was to see someone again after a long time-, Harry added another item to the list of things that made this world so strange to him; Dumbledore was alive, but even without Lily's previous comments about him, her evident hostility as she asked how Dumbledore had found them made it clear that she wasn't particularly enthusiastic to see him again.

"It was not an easy task, my dear," Dumbledore replied (Glancing around the door of the living room door, Harry was slightly surprised to see Dumbledore dressed in a relatively tame outfit of a grey business suit and a fedora). "However, in the end, I discovered your location via a rather fortunate circumstance; I witnessed your arrival at that wonderful restaurant where I was dining myself, and managed to place a Tracking Charm on your car."

"How. _Dare_. You?" Lily said, glaring at Dumbledore with a barely-restrained temper that put Harry in mind of his aunt at her worst (The first time his mother had ever reminded him of her sister). "I _thought _that you would have understood by now that neither my family nor I want anything further to do with either you or the Order? _Why can't you just leave us alone_?"

"Perhaps," Dumbledore said, in his usual nonchalant manner, "it would be best if we continue this conversation indoors?"

Lily didn't even have time to protest before Dumbledore flicked his wand and the couch swung around from its original position to strike his mother in the knees, causing her to fall backwards onto it before another flick of Dumbledore's wand sent it back to its original position, leaving Harry to stand awkwardly in the corner of the room as Dumbledore walked in and shut the door behind him.

"Hello, Harry," Dumbledore said, smiling at him. "I am quite pleased to see that you have returned to us alive and unharmed. How have you been?"

"Fine... sir," Harry replied, nodding awkwardly at Dumbledore; he might have trusted the Dumbledore back home with his life and relied on his wisdom when he was alive, but he'd heard enough about this one to be more than slightly uncomfortable with him...

"That is good to hear," Dumbledore said, nodding approvingly at him. "I would like to talk to you, Harry. Would you be so kind as to take a walk with me?"

"_No_-!" Lily began to say, only to he forced back onto the couch before she'd even finished standing up.

"I am afraid that it is _most _important that I speak with Harry," Dumbledore said, in a firm tone of voice that Harry had appreciated coming from the Dumbledore back home as it always meant that Dumbledore was going to be honest with him but found unnerving coming from this version of his headmaster. "I assure you that I have absolutely no intention of causing him any undue harm, and will take up no more than half an hour of your time at the most."

"If you think-!" Lily began.

"It's OK, Mum," Harry said, his voice low even as he glared at Dumbledore. "I'll let him speak his piece."

"Excellent," Dumbledore said, smiling politely at Harry. "I feel that perhaps that beautiful park is the ideal place for us to have our conversation I feel that perhaps that beautiful park is the ideal place for us to have our conversation."

"Can I just have a moment to get my jacket, Professor?" Harry said (He wasn't going to call this Dumbledore 'sir' unless the conversation demanded that he do so). "It's a bit cool outside, and-"

"No need to explain, my boy," the Headmaster replied with a nod. "I shall await you outside on your porch."

As Dumbledore walked out of the front door, Harry headed over to the closet to pull out the relevant jacket, only to be suddenly grabbed around the shoulders by his mother as she turned him to face her.

"Harry, you _can't_-!" she began.

"I have to, Mum," Harry interjected, looking firmly back at her. "Look, we both know that Dumbledore's not going to just give up on trying to talk to me if he really wants to say something; the best way to stop him is to just hear whatever he has to say and make up my mind on what to tell him afterwards."

For a moment, his mother simply chewed on her bottom lip for a few moments- Harry wondered if it was just the fact that she was worried about him going anywhere so shortly after he 'got back' or if she would have been worried at any time given his other self's apparent lack of experience in dangerous situations-, but she finally sighed in resignation.

"All right," she said, looking grimly at him. "But before you go, you should take these."

Quickly walking over to the hallway table, Lily opened a drawer and rummaged through it before producing a pair of palm-sized mirrors, one of which she gave to Harry.

"Take this with you," she said, looking earnestly at him. "They're our new two- way mirrors that Andrea had made for us; there's one for Elizabeth, as well. If you need help, just hold the mirror up and say my name."

"Thanks, Mum," Harry said as he slipped the mirror into his pocket.

He just hoped that he wouldn't need it; no matter how strange this world was, he just wanted to be able to enjoy the immediate chance to reunite with the headmaster and mentor he'd lost forever back home...

"Just be careful, Harry," Lily whispered, enveloping him in a tight hug before he could react to her movement. "Dumbledore _isn't _the same man that we used to know."

"I will, Mum," Harry replied, smiling reassuringly at her before he headed for the door, ready to join Dumbledore and learn whatever he had to say...

* * *

As the strap around his new cellmate's wrist finally broke, Jason allowed himself a relieved smile as the Dark Morpher fell to the stone floor with a metallic clatter, leaving Megan to rub her sore wrist as she smiled at them.

"Thanks, Saba," Megan said, reaching over to give the sword in question a slightly uncertain pat on the head as though she wasn't sure if she should do this or not. "That feels a _lot _better!"

"It was my pleasure, Miss," Saba replied with a slightly self-satisfied tone. "At least _someone _can show appreciation for my efforts."

"Hey, if you want to be thanked, remember to talk a little more; it's not always easy to remember that you can think when you don't talk," Jason said, looking at the sword in a mockingly scolding manner before he turned his attention to the cell bars. "Too bad we still haven't figured out a way to get out of here... Billy didn't happen to give you an estimate on when the cavalry would be arriving, would he?"

"Not while I was there," Megan said with an apologetic shake of her head. "And Ooze took my wand away from me which means I'm unable to try an Unlocking Charm on that door..."

"Maybe _we _can help with that," a new voice suddenly said from the direction of the cell bars. Turning around to face the source of the voice, Jason smiled in relief at the sight of Tommy and Hermione standing, fully morphed, on the other side of the bars, alongside the less-familiar but still welcome form of Alan Black as the Red Patronus Force Ranger.

"Alan!" Megan said, flinging herself at the bars with a broad grin. "I want to kiss you so badly right now..."

"Don't let Elizabeth hear you say that," Alan replied, his head tilted in an amused manner.

"Were you two just getting cozy or would you like to leave now?" Tommy asked, the familiar jocular tone to his voice as he looked at Jason.

"Bro, the sooner I check out of this cheap hotel, the better," Jason said, placing his helmet back on.

"Hermione," Alan said, turning to look at Jason's Hogwarts Guardians' teammate, "do you think your Guardian Blade can handle this lock?"

"Possibly..." Hermione said, thoughtfully studying the lock for a few moments before she drew her blade and aimed it at the cell door. "_Alohamora_."

With no more difficulty than that presented when unlocking a normal door, the cage lock made a loud metallic noise and the door swung open, leaving Megan free to leap out and give Alan an enthusiastic hug before kissing him briefly on his visor.

"Thank you," she said, pulling back from Alan to hug Hermione and Tommy as well.

"Well, if we're finished here," Jason said, smiling slightly at Tommy's awkward reaction to Megan's hug- even now, the guy _still _didn't entirely know what to do when faced with female affection-, "can we go now?"

"Not yet!" Megan suddenly said, hurrying back into the cell to grab the previously-discarded Dark Morpher, turning to look resolutely at the other four. "I am _not _letting that purple booger keep this morpher to force on someone else like he did me!"

"Good call," Tommy said, thoughtfully looking at the morpher in Megan's hand. "We can let Alpha and Billy study it back at the Command Center; maybe we can use it to find a way to shut down the Dark Morphers that are already active."

"Sounds like a plan," Alan said. "Right now, let's focus on getting back to the portal; I'm not comfortable with the fact that we haven't faced any resistance yet."

"I agree," Tommy said. "Let's just hope that it's because Ooze is getting too cocky for his own good."

Jason wondered if it was a good or a bad thing that Tommy's thoughts about the current state of affairs echoed his own thoughts on the escape attempt that had led to Ooze acquiring the Zeo Crystal; on the one hand, Ooze had already proven that he wasn't exactly stupid, but on the other hand, would he really attempt what was basically the same plan twice, and what would he have to gain from this attempt anyway...?

"_Please_, you guys!" Megan said, her pleading voice drawing Jason's thoughts back to the matter at hand. "Can we please discuss the whys and wherefores somewhere _other _than here?"

"And on that note," Alan said, taking Megan's hand as he looked at the others, "let's blow this popsicle stand!"

Even as they ran for the portal, however, Jason couldn't shake the thought that this escape could only be this easy because Ivan _wanted _it to be this easy...

* * *

As he walked through one of the more open areas of Angel Grove Park, residents conspicuous from this area by their absence- whether it was something that Dumbledore had done or simple chance, Harry didn't know; it wasn't like the park hadn't experienced enough monster attacks over the years to discourage people from using it too often-, Harry could almost feel like he was back in his world, Dumbledore talking him on another stroll through a Pensieve or a park as they discussed their latest plan of attack against Voldemort and his horcruxes...

"It is most _certainly _a most beautiful day," Dumbledore said, smiling as a light breeze blew gently through his hair and beard. "I must admit, Angel Grove is most pleasant; when the day comes that I must step down as headmaster, I will most certainly be rather happy to spend my retirement years here..."

"Professor Dumbledore, sir," Harry said, looking in just-concealed frustration at this other version of his mentor, "no offence, but you didn't come all this way just talk about your possible retirement plans in the park; what's all this really about?"

"Spoken like the true son of Lily and James," Dumbledore said, chuckling slightly as he sat down at one of the park tables, leaving Harry to take up position opposite him. "You are correct, of course; I brought you out here to discuss the Greater Good."

Harry remained silent as he listened to Dumbledore's words, even as he privately pondered Dumbledore's last words; in his experience with the Ministry, anyone talking about the 'greater good' more often than not didn't pay that much attention to the individual...

"You see, Harry," Dumbledore continued, "I have a _very special _job that needs to be done and since I am presently indisposed due to my work with the Global Ministry, I am forced to find someone who has the capabilities to accomplish this task in my stead."

"And you think that I can do this, do you?" Harry asked, his tone even as he looked solemnly at the older man.

"As it turns out," Dumbledore continued, "you are the _perfect _individual to accomplish the mission that I need accomplished if the Global Ministry is to be successful in its mission to convince those countries who remain... shall we say... _resistant _to its noble work."

As Harry looked curiously at his headmaster's counterpart, Dumbledore leaned forward to gaze grimly at him as he finished his speech. "It involves the young man who currently holds your sister's affections."

"What's so important about Alan Black?" Harry asked at last; the obvious possibility was that Dumbledore somehow knew that Alan was the Red Patronus Force Ranger, but there might be other explanations that he didn't know about to consider.

"What's so important about him, indeed," Dumbledore replied with a smile. "Well, what if I were to tell you that his family- his _true _family- are among the most powerful and the most _dangerous _families in America? What if I were to tell you that his family has in its possession a hidden chamber that only the head of family can gain access to?"

If he hadn't heard some parts of that story from his mother, Harry would have assumed that Dumbledore was exaggerating through his senility, but with that information, he was just left disturbed at the implications of anyone wanting access to the subject of these stories...

"Let me guess," he said, looking at Dumbledore with a frown. "You want _me _to find this chamber for you?"

"I do," Dumbledore said, his expression almost uncharacteristically sombre as he continued. "And I need you to discover its whereabouts _before_ the start of the new year. In order for you to be successful in this mission, you will need to use your sister's relationship with Mr. Black in order to convince him to share his family's secrets with you-"

"No," Harry said firmly.

Even if he had felt comfortable speaking for his other self, he was sure that both of them would have come to the same conclusion; he wasn't going to betray the location of something as potentially dangerous as that chamber to anyone.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Dumbledore said, his expression going from his usual grandfatherly smile to a darker stare that even lacked the usual friendly twinkle, "but are you actually defying me?"

"I am," Harry replied firmly; maybe his other self would have been more cowed by Dumbledore's request- from what Harry had heard from Alan, Voldemort had always been someone else's problem in this universe as the Dark Lord had never been able to 'mark him as his equal'-, but Harry had stopped being a normal boy after facing a troll when he was eleven. "You have absolutely no right in trying to take advantage of my sister in order to get whatever it is that you want, and if this chamber belongs to Alan's family, then you have no claims to it either-"

"_Crucio_," Dumbledore suddenly said, the elder wizard practically trembling with rage as he aimed his wand at Harry, cutting off Harry's statement as he fell to the ground, his body instinctively twisting in agony at the unexpected curse.

What the _hell _had happened to Dumbledore to turn him into _this_?

"Now, Harry," Dumbledore said as he ended the curse, leaving Harry gasping in shock as he looked up at Dumbledore- he tried to appear more shaken than he was; not only would it help the impression that he was his apparently more 'vulnerable' other self, but it might give him an edge if Dumbledore tried something else-, "in order to achieve the Greater Good, there _must _be sacrifices; I truly hope that neither your mother nor sister need to be amongst those sacrifices. You have until end of the month to accomplish your mission."

With that, Dumbledore vanished from the park with a soft crack, leaving Harry staring at the empty space where he had been and cursing this latest turn of events.

Like all the Ranger-related trouble they had to deal with wasn't enough, now they had a psychotic Dumbledore on their plates as well?

* * *

As he watched the events unfolding before him, Voldemort's latest creation had to admit that this new world his master had discovered was a fascinating environment. The additional Rangers of this world were a concern, but the enemy those Rangers faced worked with a skill and vision that even he, loyal beyond measure to his creator, could not help but admire, and wielded a power source and warriors that he was certain Lord Voldemort would be very interested in acquiring.

The version of the Zeo Crystal that existed in their world might be forever lost to the forces of evil after it had been acquired by the 'Power Rangers Zeo', but that did not mean that he couldn't pick up the version that existed here and use it instead...

All he needed to do was wait for the right moment to take action, and then he would prove his master's superiority over these fools.

* * *

Emerging from the portal into this world's version of the Command Centre, Jason smiled at the sight of Zordon and Alpha standing with the other Rangers; it might not be his world, and they might not be _his _Zordon and Alpha, but it was still nice to see them again in any form.

"You have no idea how beautiful this place looks to me at this moment," Megan said, embracing Sean as she grinned at the other Rangers. "Remind me to scratch any and all dungeons on the moon from my list of vacation spots."

"WELCOME BACK, RANGERS," Zordon smiled. "I AM PLEASED TO SEE THAT YOU WERE SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR MISSION AND HAVE RETURNED SAFELY."

"Talking of success," Megan said, stepping forward to stand in front of Zordon's tube and pulling the Dark Morpher out of her pocket, "I brought this back with me; it's one of the morphers that Ooze obviously created for his Dark Rangers. We think that it might hold the key to freeing them from Ivan's control."

"THANK YOU, MEGAN," Zordon told her, clearly grateful to receive this news. "WHILE LIBERATION OF THE DARK RANGERS RESTS SOLELY IN THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DARK WANDS, THE RECOVERY OF THIS MORPHER MAY PROVIDE US WITH SOME INSIGHT ON HOW TO SHUT DOWN THEIR POWERS."

"There's... something else you all should know," Jason said, looking grimly at the rest of the Rangers and assorted allies in the room around him, making sure he had their attention before he continued to speak. "While I was up there, Ivan put me inside some kind of mind probe machine in order to access my knowledge of our world's Ranger history."

"So?" Nate asked. "I mean, you and Tommy have both said that your world's not the same as ours; it's not like he can guarantee anything you fought-"

"That's not the problem," Jason interrupted. "The problem is that, while he was scanning my memory, Ivan found out some information about an evil Ranger team from our world... and decided to create his own version.

"Oh no..." Tommy said, his eyes widening in horror. "Jase, _please _tell me he didn't..."

"He did," Jason confirmed. "He duplicated the Psycho Rangers."

"The who?" Jake asked, even as the fact that Tommy all but collapsed over the nearest console made it clear that the news they'd just heard wasn't good. "OK, for those of us who're blissfully ignorant, who- or what- are the Psycho Rangers?"

"In a nutshell, the ultimate evil Rangers; pretty nearly destroyed the Ranger team they were created to fight, and were also responsible for the death of a later team's Pink Ranger," Jason explained, giving the other Rangers a moment to process what they'd just heard- evidently, just like in their world before Kendrix, Rangers hadn't died in the line of duty here- before he continued. "And to make things worse, Ivan's acquired the Zeo Crystal."

"Oh no..." Tommy repeated, shaking his head in horrified denial as he leant over the console, his head buried in his hands.

"OK," Ethan said, looking over at the other Rangers, "just so you know, when Doctor O. reacts to news like that, you _know _it's going to be bad."

"All right," Alan said, folding his arms as he looked at Jason, "I'm probably going to regret this, but what's the Zeo Crystal?"

"THE ZEO CRYSTAL IS AN OBJECT OF IMMENSE POWER SIMILAR TO YOUR MORPHICON CRYSTALS, ALAN," Zordon explained. "IT WAS CREATED ON A DISTANT PLANET THAT FELL TO THE FORCES OF EVIL. IN ORDER TO KEEP THE ZEO CRYSTAL FROM FALLING INTO THE WRONG HANDS, THE WIZARDS WHO CREATED IT BROUGHT IT TO THIS SOLAR SYSTEM AND HID IT UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE OF EARTH'S MOON."

"Back on our world," Tommy explained, "the Power Coins were destroyed by Goldar when we were using them to power a machine, and we had to use our version of the Zeo Crystal as a new source of power when Zedd and Rita were driven off Earth by the Machine Empire."

"_Aye-yi-yi!_ The Machine Empire?" Alpha exclaimed. "That King Mondo is bad news!"

"INDEED," Zordon said grimly. "I HAVE HEARD MANY TALES OF THE MACHINE EMPIRE'S POWERS; IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE ZEO CRYSTAL'S POWER WOULD HAVE BEEN REQUIRED EVEN IF THE POWER COINS HAD BEEN INTACT."

"Hold on a minute..." Tommy said, looking over at Jason in confusion. "We only got the Crystal last time because of me-"

"Ivan got it because of me this time, bro," Jason said, regret obvious on the White Guardian Ranger's face. "He tricked me into escaping after telling me about his plans for the Crystal; he knew that nothing he had would be able to get to it, so he had me get through the defences around it, all while Psycho White was right behind me, hiding in my 'mental shadow' so that he could take it from me after the defences were shut down."

He stared at the floor in frustration for a moment before he looked apologetically at the other Rangers in the room. "I'm sorry, guys; I thought-"

"Jason," Alan said, looking firmly at his predecessor's counterpart, "you said yourself that Ivan tricked you into getting the crystal; don't start blaming yourself for something that could have happened to anyone, given how often we've been hoodwinked by the bad guys in the past. We'll just have to wait until-"

Alan's words were cut off as the alarms suddenly began blaring, prompting the assembled Rangers to rush towards the main console as Alpha searched for the cause of the disturbance.

"What's happening, Alpha?" Jason asked.

"Aye-yi-yi!" Alpha cried out in alarm. "Rangers, the scanners have picked up a disturbance in the abandoned sector of Angel Grove!"

"Have you figured out what it is yet?" Alan demanded.

"Yes, Rangers," Alpha said, turning to look at Ron and Hermione with a suddenly subdued manner. "I'm afraid I have..."

Turning to look at the Viewing Globe, the Yellow and Blue Guardian Rangers cursed in frustration at the sight before them, while the other Rangers could only stare in shocked silence at the sight of the Guardian Megazord- the zord that Ron and Hermione had been so proud to call their own- storming through a distant part of Angel Grove, smashing through buildings with its sword, in direct defiance of everything it was meant to stand for...

"Well, that sucks," Ron said, out of a lack of anything else to say.

"Tell me about it..." Jason muttered, glancing grimly over at Tommy at the recollection of past experiences where this kind of thing had happened.

He might not have been present when Rita managed to steal Saba and use the Tigerzord against the other Rangers, but he'd seen enough on the news to guess how Tommy must have felt about that particular mess; the idea that Ooze had stolen an entire _Megazord_...

They were _definitely _in for a tough fight now.

"It gets worse, Hermione!" Alpha exclaimed, as he looked over at the Blue Guardian Ranger. "According to the scans, the Guardian Megazord is operating on remote control under Ivan's programming, and is rapidly approaching the eastern side of Angel Grove!"

"The _eastern _side?" Nathan said, the Black Patronus Force Ranger's face growing pale as he looked at Alpha. "But that's where the Little Angels Children's Hospital is!"

"Oh, man..." Alan said, clearly processing the image of a destroyed hospital. "Ivan and his antics are _really _starting to tick me off!"

"ALAN," Zordon said, looking resolutely at the Patronus Force Red Ranger. "YOU AND THE OTHER PATRONUS FORCE RANGERS MUST USE YOUR OWN ZORDS IN ORDER TO STOP THE GUARDIAN MEGAZORD."

"_Without _destroying it," Ron interjected, looking up at Zordon with a firm resolution about his expression. "We're going to want it back when this is all over, you know."

"OF COURSE, RON WEASLEY," Zordon said, nodding in acknowledgement of Ron's demand.

"But Zordon," Sean began, "I don't have a Zord yet and I _don't _like the idea of just sitting around while -!"

"I UNDERSTAND, SEAN," Zordon said, nodding at the newest Ranger. "THE GREEN ELEPHANT PATRONUS ZORD IS NOW IN THE FINAL STAGES OF PREPARATION AND WILL SOON BE READY TO SEE ACTION. UNTIL THAT TIME, YOU AND THE REMAINING RANGERS MUST GET TO THE POPULATED SECTION OF ANGEL GROVE AND DO WHAT YOU CAN TO EVACUATE THE AREA JUST IN CASE THE GUARDIAN MEGAZORD REACHES THAT LOCATION."

"Understood," Tommy said, nodding at his old mentor.

"Let's power up, guys," Alan said, looking at the other Rangers with a slight smile. "_It's Morphin' Time_!"


	48. Saving the Hospital

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Lamb and I continue our joint efforts as the crossover approaches a head...

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Appearing in front of the hospital, Hermione had to admit that Zordon's teleportation methods had at least the comfort advantage over Apparation; Apparation might be carried out under their own power, but she had to agree with Harry that it wasn't exactly comfortable. Glancing over, she smiled in relief at the sight of Harry, Ginny, Conner, Kira and Trent standing alongside them, only for her smile to falter as she noticed the slightly tense manner in which Harry was standing; after she'd seen him assume such a stance after his detentions with Umbridge, she'd come to associate that particular stance with Harry when he was trying to keep something secret no matter how much it troubled him on a personal level...

"Ha- Red Lion?" Ginny asked, reaching over to touch Harry on the shoulder, evidently realising the truth from her end. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah..." Harry said, nodding uncomfortably at Ginny as he turned his attention back to the hospital in front of them, trying not to think about the Guardian Megazord even as they heard the Ravenclaw Boomerang tear through another building. "Come on, let's move; we've got to get these people to safety before we do anything else."

"Good call," Tommy said, the oldest Ranger present nodding in agreement with the Red Guardian Ranger's decision before he turned to lead them on the run towards the main hospital doors (Hermione only briefly thought about the fact that several people, dressed in everything from casual clothes to hospital pyjamas, were running in the other direction; this wasn't the time to worry about how much being a Ranger was shifting her priorities from what they should be for any normal person).

"Power Rangers?" someone who appeared to be a doctor said, looking at the new arrivals in surprise as they came through the doors. "I... I know we were told to expect some new Rangers, but-"

"They're just... visiting for a few days, doctor," Sean said, the only 'local' Ranger currently present looking over at the man in question. "Trust me; they're here to help."

"All... all right," the doctor said, nodding briefly at the Green Patronus Force Ranger before he turned to look at the other Rangers. "Look, we've got to get everyone out of this hospital before... what's with those zords?"

"The other side stole our zord and we're working on getting it back; can we focus on the immediate issue here and get everyone to safety?" Hermione said, looking urgently at the doctor.

"Right... of course," the doctor said, nodding in understanding at the Blue Guardian Ranger as he turned to indicate a map of the hospital on the wall behind him. "We're evacuating most of the patients, but there are a few particular patients who just can't be moved on their own that easily; they're on life support, their injuries are too difficult, that kind of thing..."

"So you want us to get those patients out of here?" Ethan asked. "I mean, we're able to carry a lot more stuff than the average doc..."

"Seems like our best move right now," Jason said, nodding firmly at the Blue Dino Thunder Ranger before he turned to look at the others. "OK guys, we've only got so much time before our friends can't hold the Guardian Megazord off any more, but these civilians have to be our first priority; split into teams of two and evacuate the wards, and then focus on that issue. OK?"

Nodding in agreement, the Rangers turned around and headed off to tackle each floor with a chosen partner, each Ranger alongside another Ranger as they headed up the hospital stairs, the building already essentially empty apart from the patients they were there to rescue.

* * *

"Is focusing on this building really a good idea?" Sylvia asked as she indicated the other buildings around them when she and Jason began running along a corridor; with most of the patients on this floor apparently evacuated, it struck the Black Guardian as the best time to ask the questions that had been occupying her mind. "I mean, this isn't exactly an empty part of town-"

"After the first few zord-versus-monster fights that ended up taking place in the city, people learned to evacuate when things turned out like this," Jason said, looking grimly over at the newest member of his team even as they hurried through the hospital corridors. "We've been lucky enough to be able to keep the monsters out of populated areas back home in our travels so far, but trust me, in Angel Grove, 'Monster Evacuations' are pretty much standard training; the only thing that might be a shock is the fact that there's another Megazord responsible for the attack this time."

"So, in other words, we're focusing on the building that will have the most trouble evacuating its residents?" Sylvia asked, even as she glanced out of the nearest window and winced at the sight of the Guardian Megazord throwing the Patronus Megazord to the ground; that might not be any of _her _zords there, but she couldn't imagine how Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were feeling about this situation...

"Exactly," Jason said, nodding grimly at his newest teammate before he glanced into a door and sighed. "Well, looks like we found our first evacuee..."

Glancing into the room, Sylvia tried not to smile at the relative ease of the sight in front of them; nothing more complicated than a few comatose patients, with no signs of life-support equipment, who were probably just left behind as the available doctors focused on more easy-to-transport patients.

This might not be the kind of thing she'd signed up for, but it did mean that they were protecting innocents, and at least it wasn't going to be that difficult to accomplish...

* * *

"Y'know, I've got to ask; was one of the reasons you chose to move to a smaller town like Reefside to _avoid _this kind of situation?" Ethan asked, looking over at Doctor O. as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger closed the door of the ward they'd just finished evacuating.

"Pretty much, yeah," Doctor O. replied with a confirming nod as he glanced at the last elevator they'd filled with patients and equipment, already on its way down with the attending physician; most of the problem in moving these patients had been the weight and size of the equipment needed to keep them alive in their current conditions, but with his and Ethan's Ranger-enhanced strength it had been far more straightforward. "I mean, it's not like I was _expecting _to have to get back in the game again, but at least that way I wouldn't have to worry about the same scale of endangered civilians I had to deal with here."

"Learn from your old mistakes, huh?" Ethan said with a slight smile.

"Even if it means making new ones in the process," Doctor O. replied with a solemn nod.

Ethan acknowledged that his opinion was probably biased given his limited contact with other veteran Power Rangers, but it was moments like this that helped him recognise just how fortunate he'd been to have Doctor Tommy Oliver as his guide in learning how to be a Power Ranger; he and his team might be relatively new on the scene, but they'd learned from the man regarded by history as the best Ranger Earth had ever had.

They might be in the middle of a situation so bizarre and dangerous that he wasn't sure if having three Ranger teams to tackle it was a good thing or a bad thing- particularly not when he looked out of the window and saw that the Patronus Force Megazord was fighting with the Hogwarts Guardian Megazord that had belonged to the latest team from his world before this whole thing happened-, but at least he could be sure that his mentor was one of the best people possible for tackling this messed-up situation before it passed the point of no return.

Life as a Ranger was far more complicated than the average life, but when it gave him the chance to make a real difference in the modern world, Ethan knew that he wouldn't trade his current existence for anything.

He just hoped that he and all his friends would survive the crap that they were going to have to deal with in this world before they were able to go home...

* * *

"So," Ginny asked, as she and Harry wheeled the last inhabitants of the hospital maternity ward into the elevator- the hospital had managed to get most of the mothers out, but they just hadn't had the manpower to evacuate the infants as well-, "now that we've got a few moments to ourselves, what's wrong?"

To his credit, Harry was only silent for a few moments- he'd begun to open up to her more over the months since they'd started dating, but a lifetime of keeping quiet because your guardians wouldn't care to hear you was hard to overcome- as he looked at her in quiet contemplation before he spoke.

"Dumbledore came to my mum's house this morning," he said.

"_What_- oh, _this _world's Dumbledore, right?" Ginny asked, her momentary hope at the thought of seeing Dumbledore again being dispelled as she took in Harry's attitude towards the news he was sharing. "I take it he's not like the one we know?"

"He used the Cruciatus on me to force me to spy on Alan and Amanda about some chamber that their family's meant to control," Harry replied grimly.

If she'd heard a statement like that from anyone but Harry, Ginny wouldn't have believed it.

_Dumbledore_- an alternate version, but still essentially Dumbledore- had _tortured _Harry?

"What... what chamber was he talking about?" she asked, trying to focus on the motive behind the action rather than the person who'd done it.

"Well," Harry explained, looking awkwardly around himself before he leaned in to address Ginny more directly, "my mum- or this world's version of her, anyway- told me earlier that Alan and Amanda's family- their biological dad's family, anyway- are meant to own this special magical library that could... well, according to my mum, there's a weapon in it that could destroy magic."

Ginny's eyes widened in shock under her helmet.

Something that could destroy _magic_?

"And you think that's true?" she asked.

"After what we've seen and done as Rangers, I don't think we can rule anything out," Harry said grimly, voicing a thought that Ginny hadn't realised she agreed with; becoming a Ranger had definitely altered her own views on what was or wasn't possible. "One thing's for sure; we're going to need to let the Patronus Force know that Dumbledore's looking for it before we leave..."

Reaching out, Ginny gave Harry's arm a comforting squeeze; she didn't need to have spent the last few months dating him to recognise how much this news had to have hurt him. He'd spent his teenage years respecting Dumbledore as a mentor even if he hadn't always agreed with some of Dumbledore's decisions regarding him, and now, to find himself in a situation where Dumbledore was essentially restored to life only to have to fight his former headmaster...

Ginny wasn't sure if she should hope that they could get back home soon or if Harry would want to remain in this world to deal with the threat of this other Dumbledore; Harry's sense of responsibility was one of the things that had drawn her to him, but on the other hand there were only so many problems someone could expect to deal with at one time.

The sound of a crash outside the window prompted Ginny to turn and look at the sight of the Guardian Megazord knocked to the ground as it continued to struggle against the Patronus Megazord, simultaneously reminding her of the more immediate threat they were up against right now; the issue of the other Dumbledore's plans could wait until they had their zords back and those 'Psycho Rangers' Jason mentioned had been stopped.

* * *

A part of Kira had to wonder what god or other higher entity had decided to stick her with Conner for this part of the crisis; here they were, stuck in another dimension, trying to evacuate a hospital before it was attacked by a stolen zord, and all she could do was think about the conversation Conner had been having with the Black Guardian Ranger last night.

Why did it even _matter _to her what he did in his spare time?

They were stuck in the wrong universe, facing a team of evil Rangers created from the memories of their mentor's best friend, up against a bad guy who'd managed to acquire the power source that Doctor O. had used during his second significant power change as a Ranger (The change-over from Green to White had been significant, but she didn't really count the Ninja powers as a change since he'd still kept the same costume), and here she was, constantly thinking about the fact that her friend was apparently hitting it off with their world's first female Black Ranger?

To say that she didn't have the time for this kind of thing was just belabouring the obvious; considering how things between him and Krista had apparently crashed and burned, she should just be happy that he'd found someone to be with...

Right?

It was almost pathetic, really; she'd spent so much time when they were official Rangers being hung up on Trent that she'd only realised how little interest she really had in him after he was returned to normal, realising that part of her feelings had been based around the desire to save him while the other part had reasoned that he was 'safe' because she couldn't actually _have _a relationship with him while he was brainwashed and he therefore wouldn't break her heart...

"Kira, come _on_!" Conner said, his voice drawing her back to the present as she suddenly found him standing in front of her, the elevator already closing on the last patients from this floor. "We're done here; just keep moving!"

That was one definite benefit to being a Ranger in a situation like this, in Kira's opinion; you didn't have the time to carry out intense self-analysis on complicated subjects where even you weren't entirely sure if you really wanted to know the final answer.

* * *

"Everyone just keep moving!" Ron said, as he and Hermione hurried the children they'd recovered from one of the upper-level wards towards the elevator; the idea of him being in control of a situation like this was somehow disconcerting, after so long following other peoples' leads, but he had to admit that it was nice to be in control after everything else they'd gone through over the last few weeks. "We're all working to get this under control, but you guys _have _to get to safety right now!"

"No worries..." one young boy said, smiling weakly at Ron as they entered the elevator; the kid seemed surprisingly thin for his age, but there was a brightness in his eyes that put Ron in mind of the twins on their best days. "You've always saved us... we'll never give up... as long as you're there."

"Well... we'll always do what we can to be there for you," Ron said, smiling awkwardly at the kid; he was used to Harry being the one to attract the praise even when all of them had played their part in resolving the crisis, so hearing someone acknowledge him specifically was a welcome change of pace.

"If I could be anything..." the young boy said, smiling at the Yellow Guardian Ranger, "I'd want to be... a Ranger."

Ron was momentarily stuck for how to respond to that.

He was used to people talking about their admiration of Harry or Hermione when he was at Hogwarts; the idea that he was dealing with someone who admired what _he _was, even if the kid didn't know who he was under the helmet.

"Well..." he said, smiling briefly at the kid as he reached out to give him an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder, ignoring the disturbingly fragile feeling of the skin underneath his shoulder, "if I've learned one thing from being a Ranger, it's that anything is possible."

As the elevator doors closed, Ron could only hope that the kid understood that he was smiling at him underneath the helmet; even if the kid couldn't see it, he deserved to know that the Yellow Guardian Ranger was grateful for the confidence he'd shown...

"You know that kid's dying, right?" one of the doctors said, looking grimly at Ron.

"What?" Ron asked, spinning around to look at the ward supervisor in shock.

"The kid you were just talking to," the doctor said, looking slightly sadly at the Yellow Guardian Ranger. "He has terminal leukaemia; best estimate is that he's got another few months left before his body loses the fight."

Ron's eyes widened in horror at the news.

_Leukaemia_...

It was one of those diseases that even magic couldn't completely cope with- something about the cellular mutation involved in cancer meant that it was hard for spells to actually have any kind of effect on the damage because they were unable to change the cells back to their non-cancerous state-, but diagnostic spells in the magical world were mostly able to catch the cancer before it spread too far; for the kid to be that thin...

Even amid his sorrow at this revelation, Ron had to admit to being impressed by the news; nobody could have blamed the kid for just giving up, but he'd still been smiling at Ron as though he really _was _going to have a chance to be a Power Ranger later...

As he felt a hand on his shoulder, Ron turned around and smiled slightly at the sight of Hermione standing behind him, projecting her usual calm, reassuring manner despite her face still being concealed behind her own blue helmet.

He might not be able to do anything for the kid long-term, but he could give him faith in the victory of the Power Rangers; that would just have to be enough for the moment...

* * *

With the rest of his team occupied in other areas, Trent wondered what it said about him that he still ended up on the 'sidelines' when they were facing a particularly significant crisis like this.

It wasn't that he objected to being stuck working with Sean- the guy was pleasant enough company, and they had definitely managed to work well together while evacuating the rest of the hospital-, but there was just something about the guy's current manner that didn't entirely inspire Trent's confidence.

It was possible that he was just reading too much into the situation, of course- Sean was the new guy by the standards of every team here; it was only natural that he'd have some confidence issues-, but that didn't stop him worrying...

"That's it for now," Trent said, drawing Sean's attention back to him as the last ambulance tore away down the road. "They'll have to come back for the rest of the patients.

"I spoke with one of the cops; Angel Grove's SWAT Division is sending some of their own vehicles to help out," Sean responded, before he looked back at the hospital with a sigh. "I just wish we had an emergency transport vehicle of our own to use..."

"Maybe you should get Amanda to build one," Trent suggested with a slight smile, only to be surprised when Sean actually seemed to take the joking suggestion seriously. "Wait a- she'd _do _that?"

"You can bet the farm she would," Sean replied, laughing slightly at the thought. "Now that she's away from Hogwarts, Amanda's been feeling much safer about mixing science with magic."

"Uh... safer?" Trent asked, surprised at the other Ranger's word choice; admittedly, he hadn't exactly spoken with the Hogwarts Guardians about their school, but he'd heard nothing to suggest that certain subjects could be dangerous beyond what you'd expect of a school where spells and teaching in self-defence were an automatic part of the curriculum. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that European schools are... less open to exploring the sciences," Sean said, a slight edge to his voice that Trent recognised from the days when Anton Mercer was discussing a topic that he didn't want to think about in particularly great detail.

What Sean was saying might be true as he perceived it, but Trent had mostly heard only positive comments from the newest Ranger team of his world about Hogwarts, and he didn't want to press the matter on something that could just be an example of how the worlds diverged rather than something they really needed to discuss.

"Come on," Sean said, glancing back at the hospital behind them- apparently he didn't feel like continuing that conversation and Trent couldn't think of anything else he could say on that topic anyway-, prompting Trent to turn around and see various other patients walking out, "let's go and see if any of the others need help."

* * *

As he watched the ambulance depart with the last patient from the hospital- it had actually been rather nice to do something to keep people alive rather than just constantly focusing on beating up monsters and duelling with dark wizards-, Harry finally felt free to turn his attention where the Patronus Megazord was still duelling with the Guardian Megazord.

As much as he hated seeing the Megazord get damaged- it had been with him for such a relatively short while, but the Red Lion Zord already felt like a part of him in a way that few things ever had; even his Firebolt was just a treasured possession compared to the zord-, it was... refreshing... to see that Ooze's plan to use it against their new allies was meeting with only questionable success; their Megazord had more natural combat ability, but the Patronus Megazord's ability to use magic still gave it a not-inconsiderable advantage.

"_Nice_," Ron said, smiling despite himself as he watched the Patronus Megazord use what looked like a shield charm to deflect the Guardian Megazord's attempts to stab it.

"Just so long as they don't go too far, anyway," Ginny said, her expression grim as the fighting continued, the two Megazords now charging towards each other and grappling furiously. "If they damage the Megazord..."

"Hey," Tommy said, reaching over to place a reassuring hand on the shoulder of the girl who had been chosen as the successor to his original colour. "I've had to deal with a few zord-thefts of my own in the past, but we always managed to get the zord back without destroying it; I'm sure that Zordon and Alpha won't break their record now."

"Here's hoping, anyway..." Jason muttered, his tone grim as he watched his new teammates' Megazord struggling with its counterpart; if they were just fighting another monster, he and Sylvia would have tried to help, but when they were trying to recover the Guardian Megazord bringing in too many other zords created the risk that the Guardian Megazord would be destroyed when too many zords tried to attack it at once.

Maybe it was selfish, but he wasn't going to risk his friends' zords unless he had to...

Finally, after a flurry of attacks that included the Guardian Megazord being thrown through another building, a massive blast of what could only be described as lightning was launched from the Patronus Megazord's swords to strike the Guardian Megazord, the light in its eyes dimming before it fell to the ground, collapsing back into its four separate components before they all vanished in bursts of their familiar colour.

"_Guys_," Alan's voice said over the communicators before anyone else could react, "_the Guardian Zords are back on our side_!"

"Great news, Alan!" Harry replied, exchanging relieved glances with his three original teammates as he spoke. "Where is it now?"

"_Amanda teleported the Guardian Zords to the main repair bay and she'll get to work on them as soon as possible_," Alan replied. "_Give me a moment to contact Zordon and we'll get to work on recovering the Zeo Crystal_."

As the conversation was terminated at the other end, the original four Guardian Rangers turned and hugged each other, grinning and laughing in relief as their teammates and fellow Rangers gathered around them, grinning at each other and slapping them on the back reassuringly, celebrating their victory in relief, only for the communicator to go off again just as they had begun.

"_Guys_," Alan's voice said, "_our communication systems must have been damaged during the fight and I'm unable to contact Zordon. Can you guys pass the word along_?"

"Not a problem," Harry replied, even as the news resulted in a sudden lowering of the mood between the Rangers before he activated the communicator again. "Uh... Zordon? Alpha? Are you there?"

"Hello?" Tommy added, activating his own communicator. "Black Dino Ranger to Command Centre? Is anyone there?"

After a few moments of silence, Harry looked uncertainly at Tommy, Conner and Jason, the four leaders sharing a grim moment of uncertainty in the face of an unexpected turn of events, before Harry activated the communicator again.

"Alan, this is Harry," he said grimly. "Doctor Oliver and I can't raise the Command Centre; all we're getting is static."

He almost didn't need to hear Alan's panicked orders to return to the Command Centre immediately; after the way things had fallen apart on them during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry should have learned to anticipate the worst whenever the villains mounted such a large-scale attack for nothing more than the sake of attacking them.

All he could do now was hope that, whatever had just happened, it wasn't too late for them to turn the tables back in their favour...


	49. Shocking Revelations

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Lamb and I continue our joint efforts as the crossover approaches a head...

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

The sight that greeted the Rangers as they returned to the Command Centre was far from encouraging. While Zordon and Alpha appeared to be relatively unharmed, suggesting that whatever had taken place did not include an imminent attack, most of the computer consoles scattered around the command centre had been badly damaged by some unidentified force, along with a large scorch mark in the centre of the floor that appeared similar to the burn damage left behind when a monster exploded.

"Oh no..." Tommy said, his eyes widening in horror at the memories invoked by the current state of the base.

"Zordon, Alpha," Alan asked, tucking his helmet underneath his arm as he looked at the two. "Are you guys OK? What happened here?"

"W ARE FINE, ALAN," Zordon said, smiling reassuringly at the Red Ranger before his expression became grimmer. "HOWEVER, IT WOULD SEEM THAT IVAN SENT THE GUARDIAN MEGAZORD TO SERVE AS A DISTRACTION WHILE HE LAUNCHED HIS _TRUE _ATTACK HERE INSIDE THE COMMAND CENTER. WHILE YOU WERE AWAY, A MONSTER SOMEHOW MANAGED TO INFILTRATE THE COMMAND CENTER UNDETECTED."

"Hold on; something attacked you _here_?" Ginny asked, looking anxiously around herself as though to make sure that the creature hadn't just hidden off to the side.

"But I thought that only a Power Ranger could enter the Command Center, Zordon," Elizabeth said, looking anxiously at the alien wizard. "How could it have gotten in?"

"The more important question," Jason said, looking firmly at Zordon, "is where is the monster now?"

"And where've Billy and Megan gone?" Sean suddenly demanded.

"THE MOMENT THE MONSTER MADE ITS PRESENCE KNOWN, I IMMEDIATELY TELEPORTED MEGAN AND BILLY TO SAFETY INSIDE A HIDDEN CHAMBER," Zordon explained. "AS TO THE CREATURE ITSELF, FOLLOWING IVAN'S ATTACK ON THE COMMAND CENTER THREE YEARS AGO, I HAD ADJUSTMENTS MADE TO MY ENERGY TUBE THAT WOULD ALLOW ME TO USE ITS POWER IN THE CASE OF AN EMERGENCY, AND I USED IT TO DESTROY THE MONSTER MYSELF."

"Your own personal security system, huh?" Jason said, smiling up at his mentor's counterpart in this world. "Nice trick."

He almost wished that they'd come up with something like that for Zordon back in their world; maybe it wouldn't have done much good when Dark Spector captured him on Eltar- it wasn't like the guy had exactly been willing to just sit back and send out a few monsters, after all; he had command of an army and he'd been _very _determined to capture Zordon-, but it could have done _something_...

"I guess that explains the floor, then," Ron smiled, indicating the scorched surface beneath the Rangers' feet.

"So... how did the monster get inside in the first place?" Alan asked, the initial smile at the news of the creature's defeat fading as he tackled the more important question.

"I HAVE BEEN STUDYING EVERY POSSIBLE SCENARIO CONCERNING THE MONSTER'S ENTRANCE TO DETERMINE THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION, ALAN," Zordon replied. "ALL EVIDENCE POINTS BACK TO THE RESCUE OF JASON AND MEGAN FROM ZEDD'S PALACE. THE SCANNERS HAVE INDICATED THAT THE MONSTER HAD THE ABILITY TO ALTER IT'S PHYSICAL SIZE; I SUSPECT THAT THE CREATURE HAD MINIATURIZED ITSELF AND WAITED UNTIL THE RESCUE TEAM ARRIVED AND USED ITS SMALLER SIZE TO CONCEAL ITSELF ON ONE OF YOU."

"_Man, _this Ivan Ooze really knows how to plan ahead!" Jason said, shaking his head in frustration. "First he tricks me into getting the Zeo Crystal for him, and now this?"

"I don't get it!" Nathan exclaimed, the male Black Ranger becoming increasingly agitated as he spoke. "If this purple slimeball wants us out of the picture so damned bad, then why doesn't he just bring his sorry butt down here and face us _himself _since he's supposed to be so damned powerful? Why does he keep playing these games?"

"I UNDERSTAND YOUR FEELINGS, NATHAN," Zordon said, looking reassuringly at the Black Patronus Force Ranger before he assumed a more stern expression. "HOWEVER, YOU MUST KEEP YOUR EMOTIONS UNDER CONTROL IF WE ARE TO SURVIVE THIS ORDEAL. LOSING CONTROL OF YOURSELF WILL ACCOMPLISH NOTHING BUT DOING WHAT IVAN OOZE WANTS YOU TO DO."

"Zordon's right, Nathan," Alan said, placing a reassuring hand on his teammate's shoulder. "Remember, this is _exactly _how Voldemort operated and we should know just how much a master of mind games that old snake-lips was... but in the end, _he's _dead but _we _are still standing."

"Talking of Voldemort," Harry asked, looking curiously up at Zordon, "now that we have the Guardian Zords back, what are we going to do about recovering the Zeo Crystal?"

"ALPHA WAS RUNNING VARIOUS SCANS IN AN EFFORT TO LOCATE THE ZEO CRYSTAL WHEN THE MONSTER MOUNTED ITS ASSAULT," Zordon explained. "DUE TO THE DAMAGE DONE, THE SCANNERS ARE WORKING ONLY AT A FRACTION OF THEIR USUAL SPEED; IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO FIND WHAT WE NEED."

"Hey, a fraction of their usual speed's probably what would be considered normal computing speed for anyone else here," Ethan said with a smile. "I think we can cope with a delay if the end result's going to be in our favour."

"WHILE WE ARE ON THIS SUBJECT," Zordon continued, turning his attention directly to the Guardian and Dino Thunder Rangers, "I HAVE BEEN MAKING ATTEMPTS TO SEND A TRANSDIMENSIONAL COMMUNIQUE TO THE COMMAND CENTER OF YOUR EARTH BUT SO FAR, I HAVE YET TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN MAKING CONTACT WITH THE ZORDON OF YOUR WORLD."

Exchanging glances with Jason, Tommy knew that they had finally reached a moment that would define their future interactions with this world; they could conceal the truth and hope that Zordon wouldn't find out on his own later, or come clean and cope with the fallout of their new allies' reactions.

"You won't," Jason said at last, looking solemnly up at Zordon. "In our world... you're dead."

"_WHAT_?" Alan said, looking at the original Red Ranger in horror. "Your Zordon's _DEAD_?"

"How could... how's that even _possible_?" Amanda asked, randomly indicating the command centre around them. "I mean, it's _Zordon_..."

"There was a mass invasion of evil across the galaxy, lead by Dark Spector," Tommy explained. "As his first strike, he captured Zordon- who had relocated back to Eltar a year before the invasion began- and worked on draining his power. A new team of Rangers- we'd all retired by that point to move on with our lives- tried to rescue him, but even after a year's worth of searching, they were only able to find you- _our _you- after Dark Spector launched the final assault."

"So... this Dark Spector guy drained-" Jake began.

"No, he didn't," Jason interjected. "He was working on it, but before he could finish the job, Andros- the Red Ranger of the time- managed to find Zordon, and Zordon gave him the key to ending the invasion for good."

"Which was?" Elizabeth asked.

"He shattered your tube," Jason said, looking solemnly up at Zordon. "The destruction of your tube released all of your energy in a single burst that covered the galaxy, purifying what evil it could and destroying what was irredeemable; the only things that survived were those evil beings that had been dormant or locked in another dimension at the time of the attack."

"I... SEE," Zordon said, his expression giving away nothing about his thoughts as he looked at the eleven Rangers before him, the rest of their teams almost standing guard around Tommy and Jason as they looked at the Eltarian wizard. "AM I CORRECT IN ASSUMING THAT YOU ARE WITHOUT A MENTOR?"

"Well... we have a woman called Dimitria, but she's more of an advisor and guide than an explicit _mentor_..." Hermione said.

"DIMITRIA?" Zordon asked. "OF THE PLANET INQUIRUS?"

"Zordon- our Zordon- chose Dimitria to be our guide when he and Alpha returned to Eltar," Tommy explained. "She was mainly there to guide us in coming to our own solutions rather than relying on her completely, but she helped us find our solutions when we needed her."

"She left Earth a year later to prepare for the war against evil, but she returned a few months ago to help advise the Hogwarts Guardians when they first got their powers," Jason explained. "She stays in touch through the gems and occasionally uses your old tube, but... well, long story short, the command centre was pretty much trashed a few years back; we've got most of the essentials reconstructed, but we don't exactly use it as a base that much."

"I AM AFRAID THAT THIS COMPLICATES MATTERS," Zordon said, even as he nodded in understanding at the Rangers' explanation. "I HAVE BEEN SCANNING THE VARIOUS EARTHS WITHIN THE MULTIVERSE AND I BELIEVE THAT I HAVE FOUND THE EARTH THAT SERVES AS YOUR HOME. WITH THE POWER OF THE ZEO CRYSTAL AND THE COMMAND CENTER, WE WILL BE ABLE TO GENERATE THE NECESSARY ENERGY TO OPEN A PORTAL THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO RETURN HOME."

"What's the catch?" Ginny asked.

"IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE DANGER OF OPENING A PORTAL OF SUCH SIZE," Zordon replied, looking solemnly at the other Rangers, "WE WILL REQUIRE THE USE OF YOUR WORLD'S ZEO CRYSTAL TO MAINTAIN STABILIZATION."

Tommy and Jason could only look grimly at each other at the implications of that statement.

If they wanted to return home, they needed the Zeo Rangers to reunite at the other end...

It wasn't like the scenario proposed was impossible; it would just be complicated to arrange. If they could send some kind of message through to the other end, they _could _make contact with the Zeo Rangers; they'd just shifted to the Turbo powers because the sheer potential power of the Zeo Crystal had been too disturbingly high that they'd worried how it might affect them if they kept control of it for too long, and had felt that the trade-off of weakened power when fighting the less dangerous Divatox was worth lesser risk of corruption by their pre-existing powers...

"So... what does that mean?" Ron asked uncertainly.

"Well..." Hermione began, nodding thoughtfully at Zordon as she took in what had just been revealed, "basically, if we're going to get ourselves and our zords home, we need someone back on our world to use _our _version of the Zeo Crystal to open a portal at the exact same time, in order to... prevent any permanent damage to the space-time continuum?"

"PRECISELY, HERMIONE," Zordon confirmed, nodding in approval of her assessment of the situation before he continued speaking. "AND, NOW THAT I HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR WORLD'S SITUATION, I WILL HAVE TO MAKE ALTERATIONS IN MY METHODS TO MAKE CONTACT. IN ADDITION, I WILL WORK ON A SOLUTION TO THE SITUATION CONCERNING YOUR POWER CHAMBER."

"If it makes any difference, we're really pretty good with the situation we have; we just need a _few _more computers back up and running, but we've been coping without it fairly well so far..." Harry said.

"But the question is," Amanda said, frowning as she looked at the Hogwarts Guardians, "does your Power Chamber have enough power to do what we have to do?"

Shaking her head in frustration, Amanda powered down and began to head for the doors. "I'll be in the repair bay if anyone needs me."

"I'll join you," Hermione said, hurrying after the female White Ranger, only to be stopped by Amanda.

"Thanks for the offer, Hermione," Amanda said, shaking her head apologetically at the other girl, "but I... have a few other projects in the works, and I do better when I'm working alone."

As the door slid shut behind Amanda, Alan looked over at Hermione with a slight smile.

"Don't worry, Hermione," he said, smiling reassuringly at her. "The Guardian Zords are in good hands."

"ALPHA AND I SHALL CONTINUE OUR EFFORTS TO LOCATE THE ZEO CRYSTAL, RANGERS," Zordon said, turning to look at the now-powered-down Rangers. "UNLESS THERE ARE OTHER CONCERNS THAT YOU WISH TO DISCUSS, I BELIEVE THAT YOU SHOULD RETURN TO ANGEL GROVE AND REST YOURSELVES WHILE YOU CAN."

"Actually..." Harry said, looking grimly at the others, "there _is _something that you need to know."

"What?" Tommy asked.

"Dumbledore came to me this morning," Harry said, before he turned grimly to look at the Red Patronus Force Ranger. "He wants me to spy on you and your sister."

"Spy on us?" Alan repeated in confusion. "Why would he want you to spy on _us_? We can't be _that _interesting..."

"It's not you yourselves that he's interested in, but your family... or rather, what your biological father's family are rumoured to have..." Harry began, giving himself a few moments to choose his words appropriately before he continued speaking. "From what he told me, it seems that Dumbledore believes that your family owns a special chamber or library -"

"That houses an extremely powerful weapon," Alan finished for him, smiling nonchalantly at the other Red Ranger. "Harry, I've heard that bedtime story before from my grandfather. As old as my family is, it's really no surprise that there's a few stories and legends floating around."

"Well, it seems that Dumbledore's determined to find out the answer," Ginny said, glaring over at Alan. "The fact that he cast the Cruciatus Curse on Harry is proof enough of _that_."

"He _WHAT_?" Elizabeth and Hermione yelled in shock, Alan staring at Ginny in surprise while Ron grew pale, leaving Jason and Sylvia to exchange confused looks with the Dino Thunder Rangers.

"It looks like those stories we heard about Dumbeldore's condition aren't so ridiculous, after all..." Nathan said, looking grimly over at Alan.

"What stories?" Hermione asked, looking sharply at the other Ranger. "What could have happened to Dumbledore that would make him like... well, like that?"

"We don't really know for sure," Alan said, leaning against the nearest console with a sigh, "but, from what we've heard, Dumbledore supposedly put on this cursed ring that was one of Voldemort's horcruxes."

"What?" Harry said, looking at Alan in surprise. "That happened to _our _Dumbledore, and he turned out all right; he had damaged his hand somehow, but that was about it..."

"Well, I don't know about your world's Dumbledore, but the curse on the ring was supposed to have killed _our _Dumbledore after a full year," Alan explained (Harry briefly wondered if that was relevant, but quickly scratched that thought from his mind; even if Dumbledore would still have died in a matter of months, that didn't excuse Snape deciding to kill him there and then). "The only reason that he's alive now is that we happened to have some extremely skilled Japanese wizards who worked day and night for over a week to destroy the curse; some of them dying from exhaustion in the process. From what we know, they managed to remove enough of the curse to save Dumbledore's life..."

"But... there were some side-effects?" Ethan asked.

"Yep," Alan confirmed with a grim nod. "He started becoming more and more controlling and manipulative and, at times, he would have these bursts of anger for no reason. Nobody's sure if it's just some side-effect of the curse or the horcrux or what, but he's never been quite the same since; a bit more willing to consider more questionable solutions, things like that..."

"Let's... focus on the weapon, could we?" Hermione asked, obviously uncomfortable talking about Dumbledore's possible mental state without sufficient evidence. "What is it supposed to do?"

"Well," Alan said, sighing briefly before answering, "all I know for sure is that it's simply called the Spear and that it's supposed to have the power to-"

"STRIP ANY AND ALL MAGICAL BEINGS OF THEIR POWERS," Zordon's voice suddenly cut in, a solemn expression on his face as Alan spun around to look at the Eltarian in shock.

"Hold on; you've _heard _of it?" he said.

"But if _you've _heard of it..." Tommy said, his eyes widening as the implications of that news sunk in. "Then that would mean..."

"YES, TOMMY," Zordon confirmed. "THE SPEAR OF ELYSIA DOES EXIST, AND IS CAPABLE OF EVERYTHING SPOKEN OF IN THE LEGENDS."


	50. Legacies of Peril

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Not the longest of chapters, but we're building to something, I assure you

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he sat in his painting, the portrait of Albus Dumbledore sucked on a sherbet lemon and casually reflected on the recent events that had taken place since Harry and his friends had been chosen by the Guardian Gems.

Apparently, the presence of the Hogwarts Guardians had prompted Voldemort to delay some of his efforts against the wizarding world at large; with Harry and his allies, both magical and muggle, actively seeking out horcruxes in a highly public manner, Voldemort was seemingly reluctant to commit too much attention to his originally planned campaign back in England. According to Dumbledore's pre-existing knowledge, Voldemort had been taking steps to plant his own agents- both the more secretive Death Eaters and a few Imperiused wizards- in the right locations to take control of the Ministry when he mounted an attack, with Dumbledore's death eliminating the most likely candidate for the wizarding world to turn to after such an assault and allowing Voldemort to create an effectively uncertain atmosphere, with nobody certain who to trust and making it harder for them to oppose him.

As it was, however, with the Hogwarts Guardians an unknown 'x-factor' that he couldn't manipulate public perception against easily as all of their actions so far had been exclusively positive, focusing on their efforts to defeat the monsters that Voldemort had created rather than appearing in other circumstances- made even easier by the fact that he had no way to determine their identities and hence no way of manipulating their pasts to use against them-, Voldemort was forced to devote more attention to searching for the Hogwarts Guardians to prevent them acting in opposition of his plans.

On the bright side, the Guardians' current activity in America as they hunted for the horcruxes meant that Voldemort wasn't paying as much attention to his British campaign as he might have done, but that meant that there was far more potential overseas Death Eater activity than there might have been, even if they were taking care to operate in secret to avoid attracting too much attention from the American wizarding authorities.

Dumbledore just wished that he could maintain more regular contact with Harry and his allies than his occasional contact with Dimitria. He knew that they had already managed to find and destroy one horcrux with the aid of one of the previously active Ranger teams, and had apparently overcome some interesting monsters, but that had been during a meeting a couple of weeks ago...

As though his thoughts had been a cue, the crystals that he had set up as a communication network began to glow, followed by the slightly transparent form of Dimitria emerging from the crystals.

"Ah, Dimitria," Dumbledore said, smiling as he looked at the white-clad woman, grateful for this fresh contact from the Guardians. "How is the search progressing?"

"I... I am not sure, Albus," Dimitria replied, looking solemnly back at him. "As far as I can determine, the Hogwarts Guardians have... disappeared."

"Disapepared?" Dumbledore repeated, looking at Dimitria in shock. "What do you mean?"

"I do not know," Dimitria replied. "All I am certain of is that, during a confrontation with Lord Voldemort's latest monster, the Hogwarts Guardians- accompanied by their current allies, the Dino Thunder Power Rangers- all disappeared from the field of battle through a strange portal. I have done what I can to examine the source of the portal and its destination, but with limited equipment to draw on, it is far from certain that I will ever be able to find where they have been taken, and that is assuming-"

"They are alive," Dumbledore said firmly.

Harry had been through far too many challenges over the years to be defeated by a simple portal, and Dimitria had told him enough stories of Jason Scott's career as a Ranger to know that he was a capable Ranger who had led the team when Rangers had no legacy on Earth beyond what Zordon had taught them; if anyone could survive whatever Voldemort had done, it was them.

He couldn't consider any other possibility.

If only he had any kind of idea what he could do to resolve this crisis in front of him now; how could they find the Rangers when they had been dealt with through such an obscure branch of magic? Transportation methods such as apparition and portkeys were relatively easy to control, but while portals could reach beyond even the perceived physical limitations of distance to access realms beyond what they perceived in their world, the sheer power required to create them made them equally hard to control once they were opened...

Dumbledore sighed in frustration.

That was the problem with being a portrait, really; he _knew _what the original Albus Dumbledore knew, but because he lacked the creativity of his template, he couldn't make the original's guesses based on that information to develop theories about how to react in response to the situations he might face.

Add in the fact that Dimitria was his only regular contact outside of Hogwarts right now- with Voldemort continuing to grow as a threat, Hogwarts was remaining closed to limit the risk of children being more easily captured by being kept in one place, with the result that his staff were taking a more active role in their Order activities than they might have done before-, and the chance of solving this latest problem was limited.

There had to be _something _that he could do, but the solution just wasn't coming to him right now...

* * *

"Great," Conner said, rolling his eyes. "So, not only do we have the evil Ranger armada on our backs _and _the big purple whackjob, but we've got some mentally damaged modern Merlin out for the magic-destroying spear. Just _once _could we keep the new threats back until the old one's been completely stopped?"

"Zordon," Alan asked, looking thoughtfully at the energy tube containing their mentor, evidently deciding to ask the most pertinent question right now, "what do you know about this... this Spear of Elysia? Where did it come from?"

In response to Alan's question, Zordon turned to Alpha as the robot stood beside a computer console, particularly distinctive due to its unusually smaller size compared to the others.

"ALPHA," Zordon informed the robot, "ACCESS THE FILE TITLED _L-7-3 _AND ACTIVATE THE VIEWING GLOBE."

As Alpha activated the relevant controls, the lights in the Command Centre dimmed in a manner that put the non-wizarding residents in mind of a cinema, as the Viewing Globe presented them with the image of a large gold-coloured planet orbited by two moons.

"THIS IS THE PLANET ELYSIA, THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO," Zordon explained, as the Viewing Globe 'zoomed in' on the planet's surface, revealing golden grass and towering mountains beneath a dark blue sky. "IT WAS ONCE THE HOME OF A RACE OF MAGICAL HUMANS SIMILAR TO THOSE FOUND HERE ON EARTH..."

"It's beautiful..." Kira whispered, staring in awe at the image, before it shifted once again to reveal what the Rangers assumed were the planet's inhabitants. For a moment, Harry wondered if he was looking at a world of Veela- the native Elysians were certainly attractive enough even without Ron and Ethan's obvious reaction to them, although the other male Rangers appeared to be in better control of their reactions-, but then the scene shifted again, this time revealing a large city with what were probably spaceships zipping through the sky. Harry barely had time to be impressed with the image before the Viewing Globe changed again, this time showing a beautiful young woman- Harry estimated that she couldn't be more than a few years older than most of the Rangers present-, wearing purple robes with bright gold piping, dark brown hair flowing nearly all the way down to her ankles.

"Man," Nathan said, looking at the image with a brief whistle of astonishment, "and I thought that _Luna _had long hair!"

"THIS IS PRINCESS ZARA," Zordon explained. "IT WAS UNDER HER RULE THAT THE PEOPLE OF ELYSIA WERE ABLE TO ENJOY A TIME OF GREAT PEACE AND PROSPERITY. THOUGH SHE WAS YOUNG AND HAD YET TO COMPLETE THE TRAINING THAT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED HER TO BECOME QUEEN, SHE WAS WELL KNOWN AS A KIND AND JUST RULER."

"Let me guess," Tommy said, looking grimly at the woman displayed before them. "The peace and prosperity didn't last long?"

"I AM AFRAID THAT YOU ARE CORRECT, TOMMY," Zordon said, his expression becoming obviously sadder as the image shifted to display a dark-haired humanoid male with chalk-white skin in jet-black armour, a red and black cape fastened to his shoulders and a vicious-looking sword at his side, with a stare of such cold fury in his eyes that all of the Rangers instinctively gasped in horror.

"Who... who _is _that?" Kira asked, her voice more of a whisper than her usual confident tones as she stared at the sight before them.

"HIS NAME WAS LORD MORTIS, A VICIOUS AND BRUTAL WARLORD," Zordon replied. "UNLIKE LORD ZEDD AND IVAN OOZE, MORTIS HAD NO INTEREST IN RULING THE UNIVERSE. INSTEAD, HIS SOLE PURPOSE WAS THE ERADICATION OF ALL MAGICAL HUMANS WHEREVER HE COULD FIND THEM. BY THE TIME HE HAD REACHED ELYSIA, OVER TWO HUNDRED PLANETS HAD BEEN RENDERED COMPLETELY LIFELESS BY HIS HAND."

"Genocide..." Trent whispered in shock.

"EXACTLY, TRENT," Zordon confirmed with a solemn nod. "IF IT HAD NOT BEEN FOR PRINCESS ZARA AND HER PEOPLE, MORTIS WOULD HAVE EVENTUALLY FOUND HIS WAY HERE TO EARTH."

"So..." Hermione asked, her mind quickly identifying the most likely connection between this story and their previous discussion, "the Elysians created the Spear to stop Mortis?"

"YOU ARE CORRECT, HERMIONE," Zordon confirmed. "HOWEVER, THE SPEAR WAS NOT CREATED UNTIL THE WAR BETWEEN ELYSIA AND MORTIS HAD REACHED IT'S SECOND YEAR. THE ELYSIAN ALCHEMISTS WERE EXTREMELY SKILLED IN THE FORGING OF MAGIC CRYSTALS AND USED THEIR ABILITIES TO CREATE... THE MORPHICON CRYSTALS."

Looking over at the Patronus Force Rangers, Harry was slightly gratified to see that the news had come as a shock to them as well; he'd been assuming that the Patronus Force's power sources had been made by Zordon and the founder like their guardian gems had been.

"Zordon..." Alan said, looking uncertainly at their mentor, "are you saying that these Elysian alchemists were the ones who-?"

"YES, ALAN," Zordon answered. "THE ELYSIANS WERE THE ONES WHO CREATED THE VERY SAME CRYSTALS THAT PROVIDE THE PATRONUS FORCE POWER RANGERS WITH THEIR CURRENT POWERS. IN THE SAME MANNER, THE CRYSTALS WERE ALSO USED TO CREATE THE PLANET ELYSIA'S FIRST AND ONLY TEAM OF POWER RANGERS. YOU YOURSELF ARE USING THE VERY SAME CRYSTAL THAT ZARA USED TO BECOME HER WORLD'S OWN RED RANGER."

For a moment, Alan looked down at the wrist where his morpher was attached to him, evidently lost in thought at the implications of what he'd just learned about his power source, but then he turned up to look at Zordon once again.

"So," he asked, "where does the Spear come in?"

"THE POWER RANGERS OF ELYSIA FOUGHT VALIANTLY FOR THEIR WORLD, BUT LORD MORTIS PROVED HIMSELF TO BE A FAR MORE POWERFUL OPPONENT THAN THEY HAD ORIGINALLY ANTICIPATED," Zordon explained. "HE MANAGED TO MURDER THE RANGERS ONE BY ONE, UNTIL ONLY PRINCESS ZARA REMAINED. WITH ALL BUT ONE OF THE ELYSIAN RANGERS DEAD AND THEIR PLANET'S DEFENSE FORCES SLOWLY BEING OBLITERATED, ZARA'S ALCHEMISTS CREATED THE SPEAR OF ELYSIA."

Looking at the Viewing Globe, the Rangers watched as a new image appeared before them. This time, the Viewing Globe displayed a gold-coloured metal staff with a large crystal on the top, surrounded by angled metal rods with smaller crystals attached to the ends, creating a spear-like appearance.

"The Spear of Elysia?" Sylvia asked.

"THAT IS CORRECT, SYLVIA," Zordon confirmed. "IT WAS THIS VERY WEAPON THAT PRINCESS ZARA USED TO FINALLY DEFEAT LORD MORTIS BY DRAINING HIM OF HIS OWN GREAT POWERS BEFORE BANISHING HIM TO A PRISON DIMENSION FROM WHICH HE WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO RETURN. HOWEVER, THIS VICTORY CAME AT A GREAT PRICE. NOT ONLY HAD PRINCESS ZARA BEEN BADLY WOUNDED IN THE FINAL BATTLE, BUT THE ELYSIANS HAD LEARNED THAT ANOTHER EVIL BEING WAS ON HIS WAY TO ATTACK THE PLANET. WITH THEIR DEFENSES COMPLETELY GONE, THE SURVIVING ELYSIANS MADE THE DECISION TO ABANDON THEIR WORLD AND SEEK REFUGE ON OTHER PLANETS. IT WAS ONE OF THESE SURVIVORS WHO FOUND ME AND GAVE ME THE MORPHICON CRYSTALS SHOULD THEY EVER BE NEEDED AGAIN."

"Hold on..." Jason said, looking uncertainly at Zordon. "If this Spear was created on another planet, how did Alan's family end up with it?"

"And if it's so dangerous, why not just destroy it?" Elizabeth asked.

"I HAVE MY SUSPICIONS ABOUT THE ANSWERS TO THOSE QUESTIONS, BUT I CAN PROVIDE NO DEFINITIVE ANSWERS," Zordon replied, looking apologetically at the Rangers as Alpha deactivated the Viewing Globe and turned the Command Centre's lights back to full power. "HOWEVER, THESE SUSPICIONS ARE NOT RELEVANT RIGHT NOW. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IS THAT, IF DUMBLEDORE'S MENTAL STATE IS AS YOU DESCRIBE, HE MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THE SPEAR."

"That goes without saying," Alan said, nodding in agreement. "Still, at least things are making sense now..."

"What do you mean, Alan?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the Red Patronus Force Ranger in confusion.

"Dumbledore looking for the Spear of Elysia actually goes hand-in-hand with his activities before he went after Harry," Alan explained. "Activities that coincided with two monsters we've gone up against; Flashback and Grim Skull."

Harry thought momentarily about asking who those monsters were, but the sudden gasp of shock that Elizabeth let out when the second name was mentioned suggested that there was something personal about that particular monster...

"Alan," his alternate-universe sister said, looking at Harry's Patronus Force counterpart with barely-concealed fear, "did you _have _to mention that second monster?"

"OK," Alan said, as though Elizabeth had never spoken, "does anyone remember how Flashback came about?"

"Of course," Nathan said, looking at Alan in confusion. "Zedd created him from a camera-"

"But not just _any _camera," Alan interjected. "Zedd created him from _Creevey's_ camera? And why was Dennis Creevey in Angel Grove?"

"He told us Dumbledore wanted pictures for the Muggle Studies class," Jake pointed out.

"But... now you're thinking he had something else in mind?" Trent asked.

"Mainly the possibility that he wanted to get a better idea of the layout of Angel Grove and the Muggle Studies thing was just a convenient excuse," Alan explained, giving his teammates time to process this possibility before he continued speaking. "And then, while the rest of us were getting our heads handed to us by Grim Skull and his two playmates, Tommy and Adam find Dumbledore lurking around inside our Zord hangar-"

"But he said he was looking for us!" Jake interjected.

"Out here in the middle of nowhere?" Alan asked, looking sceptically at his team's Blue Ranger. "_Why _would he have been looking for us all the way out here in the desert instead of in Angel Grove?"

Before Harry could ask how Dumbledore had managed to find his way into the zord hanger in the first place, Alan had turned to look at him with a resolute expression on his face.

"Harry," the Red Patronus Force Ranger said firmly, "the fact that Dumbledore used the Cruciatus Curse on you means that he's getting desperate, as though he's running out of time; did he say anything at all other than wanting you to find the Spear for him?"

"He just said that he wanted me to find it before the start of the new year," Harry replied, shrugging apologetically. "I know that's probably not much help-"

"Actually, that _does _help," Alan said, nodding thoughtfully as he looked at the other Rangers, seemingly thinking out loud as he turned over the latest news. "It makes sense that Dumbledore would want some time to learn how to use the Spear..."

"OK, maybe that makes sense, but it doesn't explain _how _he's going to use it," Conner interjected. "I mean, I get that it's a dangerous weapon, but what could be so important that he needs to find this Spear thing rather than just... I dunno, getting a gun and shooting someone's head off?"

"Good point," Nathan said, his expression grim at the turn that the conversation had taken in the last few minutes. "Even if he's probably planning to attack somebody with that thing, how can we stop Dumbles when we don't even know who he's planning to attack or why?"

"We start by getting to the Spear _first_," Elizabeth said, looking firmly at the Black Patronus Force Ranger before turning her attention to Alan. "Where do we start looking?"

"For starters," Alan said, smiling in admiration at his girlfriend as he walked over to take her hand, "do you remember how you were saying that you wanted to meet all of my weird relatives?"

* * *

None of the Rangers knew that, in a pocket dimension outside most definitions of reality that they were aware of even with all the alien technology available to them, a creature was watching them and nodding in silent contemplation at what it had just heard.

A weapon capable of destroying magic... now _that _had possibilities that were worth exploring for his master's benefit back in their world...


	51. Psychos Strike

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Collaboration efforts progress, with each of us providing our own perspective; hope you find it interesting.

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"OK," Hermione said, indicating the object on Alan's kitchen table, resembling a shoebox made of wood and metal with _Magi-Tech_ written across the top of the lid, "please explain to me how this device works."

"Well," Alan replied, chuckling slightly before continuing his explanation as he held up a letter, "it works along the same lines as a Vanishing Cabinet, except it's far more reliable. In order to make sure that your letter gets to the right place, you simply use the special ink to write the name of the person and their residence or workplace and the mailbox simply scans it and sends it on."

Pausing his explanation for a moment, Alan opened the mailbox and placed the recently-written letter to his grandfather inside, subsequently closing the lid and pointing at a button located on the side of the mailbox.

"Once you're ready to send the letter," he continued, placing his finger on the control in question, "you just press this button-", there was a soft whooshing noise from the mailbox as he did so, "-and you can consider your mail delivered."

"_Nice_..." Hermione said, examining the now-empty mailbox after Alan opened it to reveal the letter's absence, before she looked at him curiously. "Why not just rely on owls?"

"What with most of the large birds over here being on the endangered species list, we Americans had to find some kind of alternative," Alan replied, before smiling as he tapped the mailbox. "Besides, at least with this you don't have to worry about anyone intercepting your mail, since it arrives at its destination practically instantly."

"How long do you think it will take your grandfather to respond?" Hermione asked, taking the conversation away from the technicalities and focusing it on the most immediate concern.

"Well... it depends on how busy he is," Alan said, frowning thoughtfully at the question. "Being both the owner of Magi-Tech Enterprises as well as the creator of many of the company's products, he could be out of town as far as I know, so the only thing we can do is to sit back and wait for the thing to hum."

"Hum?" Hermione repeated.

"Yeah," Alan confirmed. "When this thing receives a letter or a package, the logo starts glowing and the box itself makes a humming noise, until you take out whatever is inside."

"Not bad," Hermione said, nodding in approval of the mailbox. "Simple in concept, but the _implications_... did your grandfather ever consider selling his inventions in England?"

"He tried," Alan said, sighing at the memory before he fully responded to the Blue Guardian's question. "He worked for years on developing things that would help keep the students of Hogwarts safe, then he had to negotiate with the esteemed body of idiots that make up the Ministry of Magic, and by the time he started to make any sort of headway, Cornelius Fudge had been assassinated and Umbridge somehow managed to make herself his successor."

"_Umbridge_?" the four wizarding Hogwarts Guardians said, looking at Alan in horror.

"I take it her Royal Toadiness's counterpart in your world is just as bad?" Alan asked, smiling grimly at their reaction.

"To say the least," Harry muttered, scratching briefly at his left hand before he looked back at Alan. "Let me guess, she didn't like the idea of accepting your grandfather's negotiations because she was fixated on her own greatness and the 'purity' of the wizarding families who didn't jump ship and flee to America when 'the going got tough'- or whatever twisted perception she has on wizarding society-, so thought that accepting help from him would be like taking advice from a chimp?"

"Basically," Alan said. "She was all nice and polite to him when he sent her the plans, but when she learned his name and blood status she dropped him like a hot potato and banished him from the UK for life."

"Umbridge all over," Hermione sighed. "If anything didn't fit her preconceptions, she'd do whatever she could to _make _them fit; she was sent to Hogwarts to ensure that Dumbledore wasn't building a private army- ridiculous at the time, trust me-, and spent most of her time trying to find deliberate fault with Hagrid just because he was half-giant, even when his lessons were actually rather good."

"She did a lot worse than that during her thankfully brief tenure as Minister," Alan said, the two walking back into the living room where the other Rangers- with the exception of Doctor Tommy Oliver, who'd decided to carry out additional research at the Command Centre- were casually chatting over a brief meal. "She was sentenced to life imprisonment after it was found out that she was behind Fudge's assassination."

Hermione was about to ask what could have prompted the fanatically-loyal Umbridge to assassinate Fudge- the woman had been dangerous, but she'd always seemed to Hermione to be the type to prefer going along with the party line rather than coming up with her own-, but Alan's attention was distracted when he saw a black electric guitar beside an amplifier. "What's my guitar doing here?"

"That's my fault," Kira replied, swallowing the last bite before she looked at him. "If I wasn't supposed to-"

"Hey, I've been looking for this for _ages_; I'm just glad it's still here!" Alan said, grinning over at the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger as he picked up the instrument, strumming it for a moment before he looked back at Kira. "Where'd you find it?"

"Kira found both it and the amp while we were exploring that shed in the backyard," Trent replied.

"The _shed_..." Alan groaned, slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand in frustration. "The one place I never thought of looking; I'm going to have to get out there and see what else I've hidden from myself..."

"Always in the last place you'd think, huh?" Conner said, with a slight smile at his fellow Red Ranger.

"Quite," Alan said, before he looked over at Conner's only female teammate. "Thanks for finding it for me, Kira."

"No problem," Kira replied, smiling at Alan in response. "Why don't you play something for us?"

"Uh... I don't know..." Alan said, actually blushing at the request. "I haven't played in a while and my musical tastes are probably different from yours..."

"Are you kidding?" Trent asked, looking at him with a smile. "Kira found your CD and cassette collection while we were out there, as well; I think we can handle whatever you dish out."

"Well..." Alan began.

"Alan?" Elizabeth suddenly called out, Harry's alternate-universe sister walking into the room in a yellow sweatshirt and matching sweatpants, glaring at her boyfriend with folded arms. "I thought we were going to meet at the park for our afternoon run?"

"_Dammit_..." Alan said, glancing at his watch before looking back at her. "I'm sorry; I had a hard time trying to decide what to tell my grandpa in regards to the Spear, and it took me longer than I thought it would."

"It's all right," Elizabeth said, smiling at him. "Go and get changed into your exercise clothes, and then we'll see who can last six laps."

"OK, I'll go and get changed," Alan said, before he looked over at the other Rangers. "Rain check on the dinner entertainment?"

"We'll hold you to it," Jason said with a grin.

With that, Alan hurried up to change his clothes, leaving the Hogwarts Guardians and Dino Thunder Rangers sitting in the room, looking thoughtfully over at Jake and Nate as they sat on a sofa slightly removed from the rest of the team.

"So..." Conner asked, looking uncertainly at the Blue and Black Patronus Force Rangers. "I get how Alan and Elizabeth got into this based on what Harry told us about his family history- and Amanda and Sean fit as well for the same reason-, but how about you two?"

"How about we two... what?" Jake asked, looking in confusion at Conner.

"I think what my esteemed colleague is attempting to discover," Ethan said, looking hopefully at them, "is how you guys ended up becoming Rangers together in the first place?"

"We were just in the right place at the right time; let's just leave it at that," Nathan said, before turning his attention back to the TV he'd been watching in a manner that made it clear that he considered this issue closed.

"Nathan doesn't mean to be rude or anything; he's just... well, it's a bit basic, really," Jake said, shrugging apologetically at Conner. "We'd only been in Angel Grove for an hour or so when Goldar and a bunch of Putties attacked us in the park, just before Nathan, Alan, Luna, Elizabeth and I were teleported to the Command Centre and given the chance to become Rangers."

"Sounds similar to how my team were recruited," Jason said, a wistful smile on his face at the memory. "We were all just sitting around the Juice Bar one minute, then everything started shaking as Rita attacked and we were teleported away by Zordon before we even had time to look at what was happening."

"Hey, at least you guys were chosen by some_one_," Conner said, looking slightly awkwardly at the other two Rangers. "The three of us were at a museum with Doctor O. for a detention and just fell through a sinkhole leading to what would become our base of operations; the gems might have chosen us, but none of us even knew that a choice was to be made in the first place."

"And then we have the Hogwarts Guardians, who received their powers from an alien woman and Dumbledore's portrait-" Jake said, only to stop talking as Elizabeth stiffened with an angry gasp.

"And if I _ever _get my hands on that candy-eating, long-bearded, old bastard..." Elizabeth said, her voice low as she glared at the window before Alan walked back down the stairs, now dressed in a red sweatshirt and black sweatpants.

"Ready to go?" he said, looking at Elizabeth to receive a confirming nod before she headed for the door, leaving Alan to look at the other Rangers. "We'll be back in a few hours so in the meantime, you guys can hang out in here. And Kira, if you want to mess around with my guitar, the strings are enchanted to tune themselves; just strum the strings and state the tuning that you want to be in and the strings will do the work."

With that, he turned around to walk out of the room after Elizabeth, leaving the other Rangers to look uncertainly at each other.

They'd done what they could to prepare for whatever might be coming up, but as it was they were stuck until Ivan or the Psychos actually attacked them; they couldn't _do _anything against their enemies right now...

* * *

As he stood in the Command Centre, searching through the databanks for any other information the Spear of Elysia, Tommy tried not to feel too nostalgic for the fact that he would never be able to do this back in his home universe.

As much as he missed Zordon, he couldn't just abandon his responsibilities back home, to say nothing of the consequences if he encountered his other self; he might like having the chance to interact with Zordon and Alpha again, but that didn't mean that he could ignore his world.

For better or for worse, he was only here until they could get home, and he was just going to focus on enjoying the chance to see them again while it lasted without trying to push his luck.

In the meantime, it was also interesting to see how Sean was coping with his new responsibilities as the Green Patronus Ranger. While Tommy had witnessed Adam- and later Carlos- 'inherit' his original colour when they'd acquired the Zeo and Turbo powers, it still hadn't felt like he was seeing his actual 'heir', given that their Green Rangers were just replacing the Black Rangers as part of the 'core five' Rangers, rather than becoming the sixth Ranger like Sean was now...

"I'm finished with the adjustments, Zordon," Alpha said, looking from where he had been working on some adjustments of the Morphing Grid.

"EXCELLENT, ALPHA," Zordon said, nodding in approval at him. "ACCESS THE ARCHIVES AND RETRIEVE THE GREEN POWER COIN."

At those words, Tommy looked up sharply at Alpha's words, staring in surprise as he saw a golden coin with a fleur-de-lis symbol on it.

It might not be his _own _green power coin, but to see that coin once again, the coin that had brought him into the world of the Power Rangers and caused him so much trouble while proving such an important part of his life...

"SEAN," Zordon said, looking at the other Green Ranger, "DUE TO THE DAMAGE DONE TO THE COMPUTER SYSTEMS, YOUR ZORD WILL NOT BE READY FOR ANOTHER TWENTY- FOUR HOURS. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE RANGERS BEING FORCED TO SPLIT THEIR TEAMS IN ORDER TO LOCATE THE SPEAR, AS WELL AS IVAN OOZE'S UNPREDICTABLE NATURE, I HAVE DECIDED TO GRANT YOU CONTROL OVER THE MIGHTY DRAGONZORD. PLEASE TAKE THE POWER COIN YOU SEE BEFORE YOU."

Reaching out, Sean grabbed the power coin from its position in the air, gazing at it in wonder for a moment before he glanced over at Tommy.

"So..." he asked, holding the coin up thoughtfully. "This is what you used when you first started out, huh?"

"Your world's Tommy Oliver, anyway," Tommy said, looking wistfully at his counterpart's coin. "But it looks like this world's Dragonzord also managed to survive to see this day..."

For a moment, he just stared at his old coin, lost in the memory of the days when he'd been active in his original colour and using the large green zord that could fight on its own or fight with the other three zords...

"Trust me," he said, focusing his mind on the present as he looked at Sean, "the way things are going, you're going to need all of the firepower you can get; if your Dragonzord is anything like mine, it's going to come in useful."

"TOMMY IS CORRECT, SEAN," Zordon said. "AND ONCE THE ELEPHANTZORD HAS BEEN COMPLETED, YOU AND THE OTHER RANGERS WILL HAVE GAINED TWO INCREDIBLE WEAPONS IN THE WAR AGAINST EVIL."

"And speaking of zords," Alpha chimed in, "Amanda has reported that the Guardian Zords are fully repaired and all systems are functioning normally!"

"THAT IS EXCELLENT NEWS INDEED," Zordon said.

"I just wish it was as easy getting home..." Tommy said, ignoring the reminder that he and the Dino Thunder Rangers no longer had their own zords. "If that Voldemort character somehow gained possession of Rita's staff, there's no telling what _else _he might digging up..."

"Zordon!" Alpha cried out, once again halting Tommy's reflections. "I'm picking up a strange signal originating in the caves near the reservation! It appears to be a distress call!"

"I'll check it out," Sean said.

"I'll come with you," Tommy said, looking firmly at the other Green Ranger; after he had spent so long out of his depth, he'd appreciate any chance to do what he did best.

"TOMMY, SEAN," Zordon said. "DUE TO THE UNKNOWN NATURE OF THIS DISTRESS SIGNAL, I MUST RECOMMEND THAT THE BOTH OF YOU MORPH BEFORE CONFRONTING THE SOURCE OF THE SIGNAL."

"You want to lead, Doc?" Sean asked, looking at him with a smile. "After all, age before beauty."

"Beauty was a black horse," Tommy said, before he smiled and activated his morpher. "Dino Thunder! Power Up!"

"_It's Morphin' Time_!" Sean said, placing his own morphers together as he activated them. "Green Elephant Patronus Power!"

* * *

Glancing around the room they were staying in, Ron had to admit that it wasn't actually that bad.

Even if he'd always been a bit sensitive about the Weasley finances, he'd always felt that the Burrow itself was generally of a comfortable size; a few rooms could have been larger, but he'd never felt like he'd wanted some massive house like what the Malfoys were rumoured to possess and have so much space that he'd never use.

Like what brief glimpses he'd caught of Harry's family's house during their visit prior to the world cup, Alan Black's house was large without being intimidatingly so; it presented a sense of a well-off home without throwing their money in visitors' faces...

"Hey," Ron said, looking curiously at a large group of photographs on the shelves in a corner of the room, "what's with all these photos? And why does Alan have pictures of Bill, Percy and Fleur?"

"That?" Nathan said, walking over to look more closely at the shelves as the other Rangers turned to face the Yellow and Black Rangers. "That shelf serves as a memorial for all those that we lost during the war."

Ron wasn't sure if he should feel guilty or shocked at this news; bringing up such a sensitive topic wasn't exactly something he was proud of, but the implication that his brothers and almost-sister-in-law- it wasn't like Bill and Fleur were married _yet _back home- were _dead _here...

"I mean, a lot of people died, don't get me wrong," Nathan continued, indicating the relevant photographs as he spoke, the other Rangers gathering around the shelves to look at the photographs, "but we set this memorial up to commemorate the losses of the people we actually knew. Sirius Black- Alan's stepdad- was ambushed by his cousin Bellatrix and a group of Death Eaters-" Ron thought that sounded almost too similar to Sirius's death back home- "and Percy Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Cedric Diggort, and Cho Chang-Diggory all died in the final battle."

Glancing over at his friends, Ron noted that Harry, Hermione and Ginny obviously felt the same way about that particular bit of news as he did; the idea that their families could die in some battle that hadn't yet been fought in their world while they were struggling against some all new enemies...

It was another example of a situation where they didn't know how to feel about what they had learned; their families might be dead in this world, but the versions of them that they'd grown up with _weren't_...

"What... what about Bill and Fleur?" Ginny asked, looking apprehensively at Nathan. "When did they die?"

"A pointless, bloody mess, from what I heard," Nathan said, his expression grim as he looked at the relevant photographs. "Bill was murdered along with his new father-in-law just a few hours after he and Fleur were married, and as for Fleur and Mrs Delacour..."

He shook his head grimly as he looked over at the Rangers. "A bunch of racist gits with very few female members and a beautiful part-Veela woman who they could regard as something less than human; do the math."

"Oh God..." Ron said, almost feeling his face become pale at the thought of the situation described happening to his eldest brother.

He knew that it _hadn't _happened that way back in their world, of course- with Dimitria to keep them updated, they'd been informed of anything significant happening to their families, so he knew that his Bill and Fleur were now happily married and living in secret-, but to hear about what had happened to them here...

"I'm not sure who had it worse, really," Nathan said as he looked back at the photographs. "From what we heard from the spy network, Mrs Delacour was given to the werewolves and killed herself virtually instantly, while Fleur was just raped to death."

"That's _horrible_!" Hermione cried, her eyes wide with horror and disgust at the scenario described. "That's- wait; what about Fleur's little sister?"

"Gabrielle?" Nathan said, a more positive expression on his face as he spoke. "She's here in America under the protection of a prominent family that the Delacour family had formed some kind of alliance with in the 1800s. Misses her family, of course, but at least she's alive."

"And... these people?" Harry asked, indicating three photographs of people he didn't recognise; a tall dark-haired man, a younger man with dark hair and eyes with a child-like enthusiasm, and an oriental-looking girl standing next to Elizabeth as they made goofy expressions at the camera. "Who are they?"

"The first is Regulus Black; he was a Death Eater for a while before he turned against Voldemort," Nathan explained. "The second is Alexi Rumanof, he attended Hogwarts after he was chucked out of Durmstrang. I guess that you could say that he was Russia's answer to Fred and George; he wanted to be a toymaker and the twins were going to install another section in their joke shop for Alexi to use as a toy store. He lost his life saving a family when Death Eaters attacked Diagon Alley."

"And the girl in the picture with Elizabeth?" Trent asked.

"Candy Parker," Nathan said. "She arrived in England with her parents, both of whom were Enforcers. She was also one of Elizabeth's best friends. Voldemort killed her along with her parents and baby brother before hanging their bodies over the entrance to Hogwarts in order to frighten us into submission."

"Sounds like Voldemort doesn't want to face someone unless they can't fight back..." Jason said, glaring in disgust at the pictures as he reflected on the fates of the people shown within them.

"And that guy's still _alive _back home?" Kira asked, looking over at Harry in shock.

"Alive and well, even if he's generally focusing his attention on England right now," Harry replied, looking grimly back at the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger. "See why we want to get home?"

Ron just hoped that Harry felt as confident about their chances of getting home as he sounded; their lack of progress in that department so far was _not _encouraging for their future attempts to do so...

* * *

As he walked carefully into the caves of the Native American reservation where he'd spent so much time in his last year or so in Angel Grove- Tommy briefly wondered if David and Sam were here in this reality, but this wasn't the time to look into something like that-, Tommy could only hope that whatever they were tracking wasn't too dangerous; monster fights might be good for the insurance industries in Angel Grove, but the property damage they invariably caused had always sucked.

It was one reason he'd moved to Reefside, really; even if he hadn't wanted or expected to become a Ranger again, the buildings there weren't as consistently tall as those in Angel Grove, which limited the chance of them getting 'caught in the crossfire'...

Glancing at the signal tracker that Alpha had given him before they'd left the Command Centre, Tommy sighed in frustration.

"Having any luck with that thing?" Sean asked.

"I'm getting a signal, but it's pretty weak," Tommy replied, studying the tracker for a moment before he indicated a narrow passageway. "Still, whatever it is, it looks like it's coming from that direction."

"Ah," Sean said, looking at the passageway for a moment before he looked back at Tommy. "I don't know about you, Doc, but I'm getting a bad feeling about this; you think we should... call for backup or something?"

"Worried, Green Ranger?" a voice said from further into the cave, echoing around the two Rangers. "You should be!"

Spinning around in the direction of the voice, Tommy's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the Black and White Psycho Rangers standing before them, their twisted corruptions of Ranger costumes inspiring fear even without his knowledge of what these beings were capable of.

It had taken all five of the Space Rangers just to defeat one Psycho at a time- Pink Psycho remained the only villain to have actually _killed _a Ranger, even if Kendrix had been resurrected after the Quantum Sabres were returned to Mirinoi-, and now he was up against _two _of them with a rookie?

"Stand aside, Elephant boy," Psycho Black said, looking mockingly at Sean. "It's the Black Ranger I'm after!"

"And I was hoping to meet up with the White Ranger again," Psycho White added, joining his black teammate in glaring at Sean. "But, since he's too cowardly to be here, you can either walk away or you can meet the same fate as that old fossil standing beside you!"

"Let me get this straight..." Sean said, his voice lowering as his hand inched its way towards his holster. "You expect me to just leave a fellow Ranger to your loving care? I have only two words to say to _that_..."

Even Tommy's experienced reflexes barely had time to register Sean draw his wand and yell out an incantation that sent a massive elephant hurtling towards the Psycho Rangers, striking them with such force that they were thrown out of the cave before either of them could even voice their shock at Sean's attack.

"Nice move," Tommy said, nodding in approval at his new ally as the elephant vanished.

"Thanks," Sean said, before he turned to head for the entrance. "Come on; we have to warn the others!"

Tommy didn't bother arguing about that; since the source of the energy signature had already been clearly established as the Psychos, the sooner they could alert their teammates that the other dark Rangers were active, the better.

As they left the cave, Tommy noticed that the Psychos were already back on their feet, but he was already activating the teleportation feature in his communicator- it might have been ages since he'd used that old thing, but it was still a lot easier than the Invisiportals he'd only been able to intermittently rely on in Reefside- when they fired some kind of red energy at him and Sean as they vanished...

* * *

As he stared out of the window at the city before them, the other Rangers chatting in Alan's living room, Harry wondered what it said about his life that he was actually missing his world.

It wasn't just the fact that he had left his world at Voldemort's mercy- he'd accepted long ago that his need to stop Voldemort went beyond his destiny and was fundamentally a matter of choice-, but the fact that he was so dependent on the other Rangers to understand what he was even up against right now...

He'd always complained about the fact that everyone expected him to either lead him or obey them when he was back home, but at least back then he'd always had enough knowledge of what he was dealing with to make the final decision on his own; ever since they'd arrived here, he'd been reduced to either reacting to the latest attacks or following Alan Black's lead out of a lack of any idea what to do on his own.

He just wanted to be somewhere where he knew what to do and could actually _do _it...

But he couldn't.

Even if getting home right now suddenly became an option, the situation they'd created here was too dangerous for them to just abandon it.

If Ivan had managed to acquire the Zeo Crystal because of what he'd acquired from Jason, then it was only a matter of time before he tried to attack the Patronus Force Rangers with that power; Harry couldn't leave this world if the friends they'd made here were going to be faced with almost certainly overwhelming odds the moment they left.

No matter how much home might be his priority, he wouldn't leave the Patronus Force to deal with a threat they'd unintentionally introduced, and he was sure that Jason and Tommy would agree with him.

He just hoped that seventeen Rangers would be enough; Ivan would be dangerous and powerful enough if all he had was just the Dark Rangers- Harry still wasn't sure how they should cope with that; would confronting their alternate selves directly be the best strategy while leaving alt-Fred for Jason or Sylvia, or should they switch it around to make it more complicated?-, but with the Psychos and the Zeo Crystal added to the equation, he _really _didn't like their chances...

"Harry?" a voice suddenly called to him, prompting him to turn around and look at Ginny as she uncertainly walked up to him, a soft expression of concern on her face. "Are you all right?"

"Just... thinking," Harry said, shrugging awkwardly before he turned his attention back to the window. "It's... it's all become more complicated now, hasn't it?"

"What, the part where we're in another reality dealing with the villains of that world's Rangers which includes our evil counterparts?" Ginny asked, smiling slightly as she looked at Harry. "No, that's _simple_."

Looking at Harry with a solemn smile, Ginny smiled as she leaned over to give him a brief, affectionate kiss.

"We're together, Harry," she said, looking reassuringly at her boyfriend. "We're dealing with a very... _weird _situation, but we're dealing with it."

"That's why we're Rangers, huh?" Harry asked.

"No," Ginny replied solemnly. "That's what makes us _us_."

Harry smiled gratefully at her.

It was moments like this that reminded Harry why he'd fallen for her in the first place; in a world where he so often felt defined by his past with Voldemort, Ginny could always make him feel human even when he had to be a hero.

"Come on," she said, indicating the room where the others were still talking. "Time for us to brainstorm our next move."

This wasn't going to be easy, but they were here, they had formed friends here, and they were going to protect this world and their new friends as much as they could before they had to go back to their own fight.

* * *

Even as Harry and Ginny walked back into the house, they were unaware of the figure that had been watching events unfold with a grim smirk on its twisted face.

Ivan Ooze's plans _might _result in the defeat of the Power Rangers, but considering the sheer variety of power sources the purple being was currently tapping into, he was sure that Ooze wouldn't 'mind' losing one of them in a good cause.

A bit of dimensional manipulation while focusing on a particular acquaintance of his, and then...

He smiled firmly as he looked at the Rangers gathered in the house before him, each one trying pathetically to take their minds off the peril they now faced.

Once he was done with this latest 'present', the Rangers would have so many threats to deal with that at least _one _of their enemies would get lucky.


	52. New Gifts, Old Nightmares

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: We continue to work together; hope the result is worth it

AN 2: Reference is made here to some of Ivan Ooze's recent schemes in "Power Rangers: Patronus Force" in case you're wondering where the object in question came from; check it out if you want more information on Ivan's schemes

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he sat on the head of the Red Lion zord as it stood silently in the zord hanger- Harry still wondered how this place could accommodate so many zords on such short notice; was it naturally large or did it expand like the Room of Requirement?-, he once again found himself wondering what was happening back in his world.

On the one hand, it wasn't like Voldemort would know that _he _was missing- he'd banished the Hogwarts Guardians, but Voldemort had no reason to know that Harry Potter was the Red Hogwarts Guardian, and would therefore assume that he was still somewhere to be found-, but that didn't mean he'd just stop looking, to say nothing of the risk if he found out about the horcruxes they'd already destroyed; if he worked out a way to shield the remaining horcruxes from the methods they'd used to find them so far...

It was one of the burdens of being a hero, when you got down to it; your own desires had to be put aside in favour of the greater good- even if Harry would never believe in the idea of sacrificing others, ignoring your desires was another matter-, and right now, with Psycho Rangers active in this world solely because Ivan Ooze took the idea from Jason's memories, they all had a responsibility to stop at least the immediate threat before they returned home. Hermione and Amanda had spent some time going over the plans for the zords to try and work out a few extra tricks they could incorporate in case the situation called for it, and the rest of them were working on some additional combat skills to ensure that they all knew how to work together in future fights, but they were still essentially stuck until their enemies struck against them, given that they had no way of knowing where Ivan's Psycho Rangers actually _were_...

Looking at Alan as he hit at the bag Jason was holding in position in front of him, the elder Red Ranger wondered if he'd ever been this angry when he was the lead Ranger back home. He acknowledged Alan's foresight in purchasing this old dojo for training purposes- they'd never had that kind of financial background back home, so it had never been an option-, but the guy was so focused on training for the fight that was awaiting them in the immediate future that he didn't even seem to particularly care about their more long-term future.

OK, it wasn't like he and his friends had ever given much thought to what awaited them after the Ranger period of their lives was over back in the day, but they hadn't exactly had Alan's resources available to them; he'd gathered that Alan's family was fairly well-off, but that didn't exactly mean that he considered it a sign of a healthy world-view for Alan to spend this much money all at once.

"Alan," he said, looking uncertainly at his fellow Red, resisting the urge to rub his arms to ease the discomfort he felt after Alan had spent so long kicking that bag, "you really need to calm down; keep punching like that and you may not need to morph to fight Psycho Red, but you won't exactly be in your best shape either."

"I just wish Ooze would quit messing around already and do whatever he's planning to do," Alan said, apparently deciding to ignore Jason's attempt at advice. "I'm sick of waiting around..."

"Trust me, I get what you mean about not liking it when we have to wait around for a while- it was almost easier when we had the kind of villain who'd just hit us with the latest monster after giving us time to catch our breath-, but that's the way things are," Jason said, shrugging slightly as he looked at Alan. "All we can do is take it as it comes."

"I just can't believe that I survived one war just to end up having to go through another," Alan said, groaning in frustration. "And to think that I thought Voldemort was bad..."

Jason was about to say something, but was cut off when Alan's communicator beeped, the younger man glancing around to confirm that they were alone before he activated the device. "This is Alan; go ahead."

"_ALAN_," Zordon's voice replied (Jason wondered if he'd ever get used to hearing his dead mentor again). "_AMANDA REQUESTS THAT YOU AND THE OTHER RANGERS REPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTER_."

"On our way," Alan said, nodding briefly at Jason before the two of them teleported away.

* * *

As he studied the portal he had created to Ivan Ooze's lab, the Dimen-Walker was almost disappointed; considering some of the defences that magical locations possessed even once you were inside them unless you were authorised to be there, based on his Lord's experience with such wards back in his world, the protections against this place being infiltrated were almost laughably easy to penetrate.

Even the lab itself was fairly straightforward; some assorted consoles, both around the edges and scattered around the centre of the room, along with at least two medical observation tables. Before any further action was taken, the Dimen-Walker had hurried over to the nearest console and deactivated the security systems, ensuring that all record of his presence here would pass unmarked; even if it was inevitable that Ivan Ooze would know that something had happened, they'd never be able to identify how he'd come here.

With that task completed, the Dimen-Walker turned his attention to the centre of the room, where he could see exactly what he was looking for. On a table in the centre of the room were two large crystals, each about the size of a man's forearm and as thick as a man's palm at the top, held up by a series of simple metal bars. Physically they were virtually identical in structure, but each one was also a different colour, with one glowing a light yellow while the other glowed a darker blue. Reaching out with a satisfied smile, the Dimen-Walker picked up the darker crystal, grinning in satisfaction as he felt the power of the crystal in his hands surrounding the air around him.

This might be the more complicated crystal to use, given its relatively new nature, but it would be the better choice for his upcoming scheme; even if he could restore his intended subject, without a suitable power source to provide it with greater dark magic, it would make no difference to send this adversary out against the Rangers again.

With this 'Dark Zeo Crystal' to provide it with power, the creature would be _truly _unstoppable.

All he needed to do now was plant a little bug in Ooze's equipment to stop him trying to create a new version of this particular toy- there was no point taking this thing if Ooze was going to create a new one; only _his _Lord deserved to possess power of this magnitude-, and he could be on his way...

* * *

As he arrived back in the command centre, Jason smiled slightly at the sight of Billy waiting for them along with the other Rangers; it might have been a while since he'd worked his the original Blue Ranger back home, but whenever he saw Billy in the Command Centre in this world, he could at least be reasonably sure that they weren't about to face an imminent threat of some kind.

"What's going on, Zordon?" Alan asked, beating Jason to the punch. "And why does my sister have that goofy grin?"

"RANGERS," Zordon said, smiling slightly as he spoke- Jason briefly noted Amanda sticking her tongue out at Alan, but didn't bother commenting on it; they had other matters to deal with right now-, "BECAUSE OF THE RECENT RETURN OF IVAN OOZE, AS WELL AS THE THREAT POSED TO US BY HIS PSYCHO RANGERS, AMANDA, BILLY, ALPHA, AND MYSELF HAVE BEEN HARD AT WORK PREPARING NEW WEAPONS AS WELL AS MODIFYING OLD ONES TO ADD TO YOUR ARSENAL."

With that statement made, Zordon turned to look at Jason's current teammates. "GUARDIAN RANGERS, YOU NOW HAVE COMMAND OF THE GUARDIAN CANNON."

"What-?" Ron began, before the holographic image of a large bazooka-like weapon appeared in the air above them, prompting him to look up at the object with an impressed expression. "_Nice_..."

"THE GUARDIAN CANNON WAS DESIGNED TO BE USED BY THE FOUR CORE MEMBERS OF YOUR TEAM AND POWERED BY YOUR OWN MAGIC," Zordon explained. "HOWEVER, IT MUST BE USED _ONLY _IN THE CASE OF AN EMERGENCY-"

"Because, since it relies on our magic, use of it could weaken us to the point where we can't do much afterwards?" Hermione asked.

"PRECISELY," Zordon confirmed, before he continued speaking. "AS FOR THE DINO RANGERS, DUE TO THE ABSENCE OF YOUR OWN ZORDS, ALPHA HAS MADE THE NEEDED ADJUSTMENTS AND YOU NOW HAVE COMMAND OF THE POWERFUL SHOGUN ZORDS."

"The Shogun Zords?" Ethan said, grinning up at Zordon. "_Cool_!"

"Those were... the last ones you got as the White Ranger, right?" Conner asked, looking curiously back at his mentor.

"Yeah, that was them," Tommy said, a slightly wistful expression on his face at the memory of the zords in question back in his world.

"AND NOW," Zordon continued, "I WILL ALLOW BILLY AND AMANDA TO UNVEIL THEIR OWN CONTRIBUTIONS."

"Actually," Billy said, as he addressed the assembled Rangers, "since these next weapons were created by Amanda- with some input from Hermione, apparently-, I'll let _her _do the presentations."

With that, Amanda stepped forward and activated a control box she was holding in one hand, one wall subsequently sliding apart to reveal six large motorcycles, styled in the colours and animal motifs of the Patronus Force Rangers.

"These are the Patronus Force Battle Bikes," Alan's sister explained. "I've been working on them for the past two months. They're fast, powerful, and include quite a few surprises that could come in handy during a combat situation."

"_Nice_..." Alan said, running his hand over the red wolf-themed Battle Bike before he wrapped an affectionate arm around his sister's shoulders. "Sis, you just keep taking each and every one of those 'Dumb Blonde' jokes and sending them down the tubes!"

"And that's not all!" Amanda added, ignoring Alan's brief joke as she pressed another control, another wall sliding away to reveal a massive six-wheeled armoured vehicle with visible armaments, including what looked like laser cannons and two missile racks.

"This is the _Marauder_," Amanda continued, smiling as the Rangers stared at the white vehicle with golden trim around the edges. "I had originally designed it as an assault vehicle, but after the hospital attack I made some alterations; it's now a combination assault and rescue vehicle."

"Sweet!" Ron said, smiling in approval.

"I even managed to make a few things for you guys while I was at it," Amanda said, smiling over at the Hogwarts Guardians as she raised the device once again, a third wall opening up to reveal a set of three sleek-looking motorcycles in white, black and blue, with three aerial vehicles that resembled a strange cross between broomsticks and motorcycles.

"For Jason, Sylvia and Hermione- based on their lack of magic for the first two and Hermione's own lack of flying talent for the third-, I made the Guardian Cycles," Amanda explained, the smile on her face removing any possible sting from her words. "For Ron, Harry, and Ginny; I built the Guardian Flyers. They're easier to control than a broomstick and are capable of leaving a Firebolt in the dust!"

"_Very _nice..." Harry said, nodding thoughtfully as he examined his Guardian Flyer.

"You're welcome," Amanda grinned, smiling as the Guardian Rangers inspected their new vehicles.

Harry had to admit, it was _definitely _going to be interesting to see these things in action when they got the chance to use them; after so long relying on his feet or Jason's car to get anywhere- the zords weren't practical as long-term transports-, it would be nice to have some more options when it came to getting around.

* * *

"_And you are certain that this plan will be successful_?" Voldemort asked, looking critically at the Dimen-Walker through the small 'rift' he had created to communicate with his dimension of origin. "_I had faith in this creature before..._"

"He possesses significantly greater power thanks to the power source I have acquired for him; considering that he was only defeated through an unanticipated weapon last time, I have faith that he will be capable of significantly more damage than he was then," Dimen-Walker said, looking solemnly at its master. "And even if he should fail... well, I have taken steps to ensure that the power source I have acquired will not fall into the hands of others."

"_Indeed_?" Voldemort said, looking at the Dimen-Walker with new curiosity. "What steps are these?"

"I am... preparing my own assault on them," the Dimen-Walker said, smiling grimly at its master. "Even if my assault fails, the Rangers will not have the chance to enjoy their victory before _I _am upon them..."

"_Good_," Voldemort said, before his eyes narrowed. "_But remember one thing; I wish enough of them to be left behind so that I may inform this world of the loss of its heroes with _no _fear of disbelief_."

The Dimen-Walker nodded in understanding before it sealed the rift allowing it to communicate with its master, leaving it to grin in anticipation of what was to come.

Even as its new weapon began to manifest, all he needed to do now was sit back and enjoy the sight as his stolen power source prepared to provide the Rangers of this world with a true challenge...

* * *

Further examination of the new vehicles was suddenly cut short when alarms started blaring throughout the Command Centre, drawing their attention away from the relatively leisurely activity and forcing them back to action.

"RANGERS!" Zordon boomed in an urgent tone. "MY SENSORS HAVE DETECTED A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF DARK ENERGY! BEHOLD THE VIEWING GLOBE!"

As they gathered around the monitoring device, the Rangers could only observe in shocked silence as they witnessed a strange cloud gathering over the centre of downtown Angel Grove, firing off strange multi-coloured bolts of lightning at the ground around them.

"That is one weird cloud..." Jake commented grimly.

"I HAVE RUN A SCAN ON THE CLOUD," Zordon explained. "ACCORDING TO MY READINGS, IT IS NOT ONLY BEING CREATED BY THE ZEO CRYSTAL, BUT SOMETHING IS BEING CREATED WITHIN THE CLOUD ITSELF."

"Created _in _the cloud?" Sylvia said in surprise. "What could do...?"

Her voice trailed off as the cloud lowered itself down to street level before dissipating, revealing a monster that the Hogwarts Guardians recognised all too clearly; it might be larger and bulkier, but its distinctive thin form and bone-like shoulders weren't something they'd easily forget.

"Is it just me, or does that creep resemble a wand?" Nathan asked, looking at the image curiously.

"Oh, it's a wand, all right..." Harry said, shaking his head in exasperation at the sight before them.

"_Wandemort_?!" Hermione said, her eyes widening in terror.

"Didn't we already _kill _that sod?" Ron asked, groaning in frustration as he looked at his friends.

"Hold on; did you call just call this thing 'Wandemort'?" Alan asked, looking at the Guardians in surprise. "As in, you _know _this thing?"

"It was actually our first major opponent as a six-man team, although it took Sylvia a while to reveal who she really was even after that," Harry explained, shooting a brief glare at the Black Guardian Ranger before he continued his explanation. "Wandemort was the result of Voldemort infusing his wand with sentience and sending it after us; not much in terms of hand-to-hand combat, but its magical potential made up for that."

"Tell me about it; bringing the Superzord together like that was a long shot, and I'm _still_ feeling tired after the effort needed..." Sylvia said, shaking her head at the memory.

"Right..." Alan said, his expression becoming a grim mask as he looked back at the Viewing Globe before he spoke again. "Harry, I want you to do me a favour."

"Which is?" Harry asked.

"When you get back to your world," Alan said firmly, "I would like for you to snap Rita's wand in half and then shove both pieces up Voldemort's ass."

"I'll... keep that in mind," Harry said, glancing awkwardly over at Ginny out of a lack of other appropriate responses to such a violent request. "But, right now, can we focus on why someone would bring back a monster we already stopped once before?"

"And one from another universe, at that," Ethan added, looking around at the rest of his current teammates. "I mean, I'm not the only one worried about that, right?"

"Trust me, I don't like the implications either, but we've got more immediate priorities than how this guy's back to worry about right now," Tommy said, looking grimly at his friends. "We have to assume that whoever brought Wandemort back didn't just bring him back the way he was before, which means that he could be packing more power than last time."

"_More _power?" Ginny repeated, looking at Tommy in horror. "But... but we barely stopped him last time with the _Superzord_?"

"So we're going to have to hit him harder and faster than he can adapt," Jason said, looking grimly at his friends. "Come on, guys; we don't get him fast, he's going to cause _real _damage."

"Right," Harry said, nodding grimly as he activated his morphers before looking over at Alan and Conner. "Ready?"

"Always," Conner said firmly.

"Try and stop me," Alan said.

"Good to know," Jason said, grinning around at his strange new collection of teammates. "All right then, guys; as we said in the day, _it's morphin' time_!"


	53. Wandemort- Round Two

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Hope this proves to be worth the wait

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As they emerged from the apparation/teleportation transport in front of Wandemort, Harry's eyes narrowed at the sight of the creature before them.

He knew that it was partly unfair to blame the wand for the sins of its master- it wasn't like the wand could control what purpose it was used for after it was purchased, after all-, but that didn't mean that he couldn't feel angry at the idea of the weapon that had killed its parents and committed so many sins being given the gift of life itself, no matter how twisted or basic that life might be compared to what it could be.

"Ah, _there _you are!" Wandemort said, grinning as he looked at them; Harry thought that the creature looked slightly thicker around the chest compared to what it had been in their previous fight, but it was hard to be absolutely certain given how long it had been since they last fought. "I was wondering when you'd show up!"

"What, you're already tired of being back?" Sylvia asked, glaring at the wand-based monster.

"Hardly," Wandemort said, brandishing his stick-like arms with an unnecessary flourish. "I'm just eager to finish what I started."

Before any of the other Rangers could react, the Patronus Force had charged at Wandemort en masse, their Patronus Sabers drawn and ready to strike, only for the wand-based enemy to casually summon a Shield Charm that prevented even one blade from striking him, his other hand firing a blasting hex a split-second later that sent all of the local Rangers flying into the air; Alan experienced a particularly violent collision with a nearby wall before anyone could help him.

"NO!" Sylvia yelled, charging into action before her teammates could stop her, slashing at Wandemort with her Guardian Blade before he ducked under her latest blow and struck her in the chest with a powerful kick, sending her staggering backwards gasping for air.

Taking advantage of their foe's momentary distraction, Jason and Tommy ran towards the living wand, Saba and the Brachio Staff outstretched in front of them as they struck Wandemort's bone-like shoulders. The force of the impact was only enough to send Wandemort staggering for a few moments, but that was enough for the two veteran Rangers to launch a series of rapid attacks at their enemy, close-quarters initially preventing Wandemort from doing more than parrying their blows with his own arms until he managed to duck under two simultaneously blows and deliver a swinging kick that knocked both Rangers off their feet.

With Tommy and Jason down for the count, Wandemort lunged forward as though he was going to stab them with his sharpened hands, but the tables were swiftly turned as they rolled to the side, leaving Wandemort's arms temporarily trapped in the ground. As Jason and Tommy continued to roll out of harm's way, Harry, Conner and Alan fired their weapons at Wandemort, but only succeeded in blasting him out of the ground without actually causing any obvious damage.

"Nice try," Wandemort said, looking scathingly at the Rangers as he shifted back into a combat stance, "but as you can see, I won't go down _that _easily."

"Yellow Lioness Claw Strike!" Elizabeth yelled, charging towards Wandemort with glowing fingers, leaving surprisingly deep gashes in Wandemort's chest.

"Howling Moon Slash!" Alan yelled, raising his own blade and charging it with red energy before he thrust out at his opponent, striking Wandemort's mid-section and forcing him to the ground. Their foe temporarily downed, Sean leapt forward to strike him on the head and shoulders with his bare hands, only for Wandemort's enraged counter-attack to send all three Patronus Force members flying.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" Harry and his three fellow Hogwarts-trained Hogwarts Guardians yelled, the four Patronuses hurtling towards Wandemort, the four glowing animals knocking him off-balance and sending him hurtling into the air on the antlers of Harry's stag, Ron's Jack Russell nipping at the sentient wand's heels while Hermione's otter and Ginny's horse did what they could to attack the monster as it rose into the air.

"_Yes_!" Hermione said, grinning at the sight of the monster being lifted into the air. "We've got him now-!"

"NO!" Wandemort roared, swinging his arms in a massive burst of energy that seemingly disrupted all four of the Patronuses, the four creatures vanishing like smoke before he landed back on the ground.

"Our turn, guys!" Conner said, the five Dino Thunder Rangers quickly assembling the expanded Z-Rex Blaster before they fired it at Wandemort, the motion so well-practised that they launched the blast before Wandemort could strike back. For a moment, the sheer force of the power sent their enemy staggering, but he swiftly regained his balance and charged towards the Dino Thunder Rangers, only a slight chip in one shoulder suggesting that he had taken any kind of damage from that attack.

"Nice try," the sentient wand said, grinning as he looked at his foes, "but I was designed to take _far _more punishment than that."

"HEY, WANDA!" Nathan yelled, Wandemort turning around just in time to be struck in the chest by the Black Patronus Force Ranger's Patronus Axe, the blow penetrating the area that had already been damaged by Elizabeth's previous attack, taking away a chunk of wood to reveal something glowing _inside _Wandemort that was definitely not just the wand's pre-existing phoenix feather core.

"Hold on..." Jason said, his eyes narrowing under the helmet as he looked at the shape visible underneath Wandemort's 'skin'. "Is that... the Zeo Crystal?"

"No," Tommy said, his greater experience with the combined crystal of his world allowing him to quickly identify the differences. "That looks a lot darker..."

"_Precisely_," Wandemort said, grinning at the Black Dino Thunder Ranger despite the hole in his side. "Thanks to my master's discovery of that idiotic Ooze-thing's projects, I have been provided with the power to accomplish something far beyond what I was capable of on my own, even when operating at my peak!"

"Wait a... are you telling us that Ivan created his _own _Zeo Crystal?" Alan asked, looking at Wandemort in shock.

"That idiotic- did you _steal _that?" Hermione asked, her eyes widening under her helmet as she considered the implications, indicating the visible Crystal fragment with an urgent wave of her hand.

"Naturally," Wandemort said. "Why should my master have to work with a sentient slime when he can simply take what he wants?"

"So... you're in another world, and the first thing your master does when attacking is stealing something from the only guy who even might have been willing to work with him?" Ethan said, looking at Wandemort in surprise. "I knew that the guy wasn't exactly the sharpest tack in the box, but doing something that will get the bad guys gunning for him as _well _as the good guys?"

"He can handle it," Wandemort said, looking firmly at Ethan before he raised another arm. "But let's see you handle _this_!"

Even as he spoke, Ethan had already raised his Tricera Shield to block Wandemort's attack, the green energy emerging from the sentient wand's arms striking the shield before it was sent hurtling back towards its source, triggering a small blast as Wandemort was sent reeling back, clutching his apparently injured arm.

"Did that just-?" Trent asked, looking at their foe in surprise.

"Hurt him?" Kira finished, smiling at what they'd just seen. "I think it did..."

"NO!" Wandemort yelled, launching another series of spells at the Rangers. As though it had been discussed rather than just being an instinctive idea, the Patronus Force stepped forward and raised their wands, Alan leading them in creating a powerful Shield Charm that deflected each and every one of Wandemort's spells back at him, the creature that had once been Voldemort's wand only able to shriek in rage as he was knocked off his feet by the backlash.

"He's vulnerable to his own spells?" Sylvia said in surprise.

"The one thing you can never protect yourself against is yourself..." Hermione said, smiling in understanding as she looked over at the other Rangers, each of them clearly coming to the same conclusion.

"Mass Shield Charms?" Amanda asked, raising her wand curiously.

"Go for it!" Tommy said, raising his Brachio Staff as he looked at the rest of his team, Jason and Sylvia already falling into position alongside the Dino Thunder Rangers. "We'll focus on hitting him; you guys get ready to deflect whatever he's got!"

"Understood!" Harry said, the Hogwarts students among the Hogwarts Guardians drawing their Guardian Blades as they turned to face Wandemort, who was glaring at them with as much anger as a sentient wand could display.

"Do you really think _one fluke _will prove a pattern?" he asked, glaring at them indignantly. "I am the greatest weapon of-"

"_Brachio Orb_!" Tommy yelled, generating and hurling a large ball of energy towards their foe, the attack striking Wandemort full-on before he could do anything to get out of the way.

"Let's turn this creep into firewood!" Alan yelled, pointing at Wandemort as he looked at his own team. On cue, the Patronus Force charged at Wandemort, whose attempt to attack Alan with a purple spell was neatly deflected before the Red Patronus Force Ranger ducked aside to allow Tommy to launch another energy orb.

With Wandemort's defences down, Jason dived forward, striking at Wandemort with Saba, the enchanted sabre sending more slivers of wood flying through the air as it struck home. As Wandemort was sent reeling from the attack, Jason stepped back to allow the still-charging Patronus Force their chance, allowing them all to strike Wandemort with their own blades.

As the last of the Patronus Force ran past their enemy, Jason rotated Saba into position to blast Wandemort with the weapon's eyebeams, sending Wandemort flying backwards just as Nathan charged towards him, the Black Patronus Force Ranger using a Shield Charm as a large battering ram to increase the damage his attack caused to his enemy. The sentient wand apparently still off-balance, Amanda pulled out her Patronus Bow and launched a Blasting Hex at the exposed crystal, only for Wandemort's sudden Shield Charm to black the attack. As he prepared to launch another spell, Harry automatically stepped between the White Patronus Force Ranger and Wandemort to establish his own Shield Charm, only his eyes to widen in horror as the Shield Charm and Wandemort's subsequent hex created a sudden connection between Harry's transformed wand and Wandemort's remaining arm.

_Shit_, Harry thought to himself, as the faint trill of phoenix song began to fill the air around him, just like it had in the Little Hangleton graveyard almost three years ago.

He'd been so focused on protecting Amanda, he'd forgotten about the Prior Incanteum effect that still defined his wand's 'relationship' with Voldemort…

"_Potter_..." Wandemort said, his voice practically dripping with anticipation as he looked at Harry.

"I don't-" Harry began, automatically attempting to deny Wandemort's assessment even as he remembered that the monster had already deduced the truth once; it might have needed reminding this time around, but Harry had a feeling Wandemort wouldn't accept the best lie ever right now.

"He would _never _surrender the wand that empowered him against me to another, and you would not take up such a weapon against me unless it was an automatic response," Wandemort said, still smirking in satisfaction at the Red Hogwarts Guardian, clearly confident in its memory of the identity under the red helmet. "So... the Red Guardian is Harry Potter... my master _will _want to know this..."

"Didn't he already know that?" Jason asked, looking over at Hermione in confusion.

"Maybe him getting blown up last time made him lose a few bits of his memory; this isn't the time to worry about that kind of thing!" Hermione yelled, staring in horror as Wandemort raised his left arm and began to generate a glowing blue thing that put the Rangers in mind of the portal that had sent them to this world in the first place, simultaneously raising his left arm in an obvious attempt to prepare for whatever attack his foes might attempt.

"He's trying to take Harry back to Voldemort!" Ginny screamed in horror.

"HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" Alan yelled, the various magical Rangers launching assorted spells while Tommy, Jason and Sylvia fired their own weapons at Wandemort, only for all their efforts to be countered by the Shield Charm Wandemort effortlessly erected despite both hands being occupied. For a moment, Harry wondered if this was it, but just as Wandemort was turning back to face the portal he was creating, its growth was suddenly cut short as Conner suddenly charged forward, demorphing as he ran to activate his superspeed, grabbing Saba from Jason's belt, and cutting off the tip of Wandemort's arm before their enemy could react to Conner's new method of attack.

"Sorry, Wanda," Conner said, smirking as he looked at Wandemort, Saba in the Red Dino Thunder Ranger's unmorphed hand as Harry scrambled to safety in the momentary distraction caused by his Dino Thunder counterpart, "but while we can neither confirm nor deny Harry Potter's presence here, we _definitely _can't have you tattling back to your boss."

"_NO_!" Wandemort yelled, thrusting out at Conner with his splintered arm, only for Conner's superspeed to once again take him neatly out of harm's way as he ran back to the other Rangers and morphed back into action once again. Outraged, Wandemort fired a spell at the Rangers, only for his instinctive use of his damaged right arm to trigger a magical backlash that caused his arm to essentially explode, splintering up to the elbow.

"Nice job," Jason said, nodding in approval at Harry's immediate predecessor as the Red Ranger before he took back his sword. "Our turn now."

With that order, the six Guardian Rangers charged towards Wandemort, drawing their respective swords and slashing at the monster as they ran past, their blades tearing through Wandemort's already-battered hide, taking even more splinters out of his form without demonstrating any sign of significant damage.

"He's still standing?" Tommy said, looking incredulously at Wandemort; he'd been through a lot as a Ranger, but there was only so much that the average monster could take in his experience, and Wandemort had already passed the limits of most monsters' endurance.

"Seriously, how much damage can this bastard _take _before he goes down?" Trent asked, glaring at the sentient wand.

"There's gotta be a way to stop him!" Alan said, glaring in frustration at the monster before he activated his communicator "Zordon, we're having a time here! Have the scanners picked up any weaknesses on this creep yet?"

"_POWER RANGERS_," Zordon's voice suddenly announced over each Ranger's respective communicators. "_IN ORDER TO DEFEAT WANDEMORT, YOU MUST DESTROY THE CRYSTAL WITHIN HIS CHEST WITH A CONCENTRATED BLAST OF POWER_."

"Uh… Zordon?" Jake asked, looking in confusion at his communicator. "I'm all for stopping this guy, but don't we need that crystal to get the other guys home?"

"_I AM AFRAID THAT WHILE THE CRYSTAL IS A DUPLICATE OF THE ZEO CRYSTAL, IT'S ENERGY SIGNATURES INDICATE THAT ONLY A SERVANT OF EVIL CAN ACCESS ITS POWERS_," Zordon explained.

"In other words, it's useless to us and we're still going to need to fight this 'Ooze' berk," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "Just when I thought we'd have an easy one…"

"Never mind about that; we've got more immediate priorities right now," Ethan said, looking over at the rest of the Rangers. "Come on, let's take this creep down!"

Just as the Rangers were turning to look at their opponent, Wandemort pointed his remaining arm at himself and yelled out, "_ENGORGIO_!" Before any of the Rangers could take action, a dark glow engulfed Wandemort's body and he grew to giant size, his damaged arm fully repaired and the previously-sustained scars now gone as he glared down at them.

"YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT ME!" the sentient wand cried, grinning down at his foes. "AS PUNISHMENT FOR YOUR CONTINUED DEFIANCE, I WILL NOW DESTROY THIS ENTIRE CITY AND ALL WHO DWELL WITHIN!"

"Oh no…" Sylvia whispered, her eyes wide with horror as Wandemort threw out his hands and launched a Blasting Hex, the blast demonstrating a size that could have annihilated several buildings if it had struck an actual target.

"It's zord time!" Alan said, as he and the other Patronus Force Rangers raised their wands to the sky. "Patronus Zords! _Expecto Patronum_!"

"Guardian Zords, _attivare_!" Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny cried out.

"White Dragon Guardian Zord power, _now_!" Jason yelled.

"Black Guardian Zords, power up!" Sylvia cried.

"Shogun Zords!" the Dino Thunder Rangers yelled, summoning their new zords for the first time. "Power up!"

As the small army of zords began to advance towards their position, Harry smiled at the sight.

It might be an unprecedentedly complicated situation, but the sight of the five humanoid Shogun zords and the assorted animal-based zords gave him a sense of hope that he hadn't felt for a while.

"OK, guys," Alan said, looking over at his fellow Rangers, "let's show Wandemort what happens when you mess with the Power Rangers!"

With that cue, moving as one, the Rangers all leapt into their respective zords, the subsequent role-call being almost automatic as Harry and the other Rangers moved their zords into position around Wandemort.

It was time to see just what these zords could do as individuals rather than always relying on the Megazord formations…

* * *

As he sat in his throne room, contemplatively staring at his staff and the map of magical Britain detailing the progress of his forces, Voldemort wondered how things were progressing in the other world.

The more he heard about the world that he had sent the Guardian Rangers to, the more intrigued he became at the possibilities it presented; he would have to see about sending a group of Death Eaters there once he had properly established himself in this reality. The idea of acquiring the other-dimensional counterparts of some particularly rare artefacts was intriguing on its own, but when added on to the possibility that there would be artefacts in that world that didn't exist in _his_…

With such a potentially abundant amount of resources available, he would be foolish not to take a closer look at that world later on.

Recreating Wandemort had taken a fair amount of effort, and he had been required to use that crystal that his creation had acquired for him to ensure that the resulting recreation was worth the effort- the wand was capable of recreating old monsters, but they were never capable of operating to the same standard as they would have been when they were 'new'-, but he was fairly sure that the results would be worth it.

Even if the Rangers managed to somehow destroy Wandemort with their new allies' aid, the resulting backlash as the crystal detonated would make their 'victory' a pyrrhic one at best…

"Nice place," an unfamiliar voice said, prompting Voldemort to turn around and glare at the sight before him; a tall man, around Voldemort's height, dressed in a long black robe with purple trim, with purple skin and a head-covering that put Voldemort in mind of an insect's exo-skeleton or an external bone structure.

"Who are _you_?" Voldemort asked, glaring at the other man as he aimed the staff at the intruder; as surprised as he was at this intrusion, he would _not _give this man the satisfaction of seeing Lord Voldemort afraid. "And how did you come to be here?"

"I'm glad you asked!" the intruder said, grinning as he walked towards Voldemort with exaggerated slowness. "I'm the _galactically_ feared, _globally _reviled, _universally despised_…"

He paused only a few feet away from Voldemort, his smile slowly vanishing as he glared at the wizard. "They call me Ivan Ooze."

"Ivan Ooze?" Voldemort repeated; he recognised the name from his creation's report of the situation in the other dimension that he had banished the Hogwarts Guardians to, but that didn't explain what he was doing here…

"What do you want?" he continued, relaxing his stance slightly as he lowered his staff, presenting a more relaxed impression even as he continued to glare at his foe.

"You've been playing on my side of the fence, Voldy!" Ooze said, jabbing an angry finger at Voldemort as he continued to speak, only to lower the finger as he looked at him in a more appraising manner. "But… well, I've come to give you a shot at talking this over."

"What did you have in mind?" Voldemort replied, contemplating and discarding the possibility of outright attack; if he could achieve some degree of balance here without needing to fight a potential asset…

"Simple enough," Ooze said, shrugging as he looked at Voldemort. "I'll do what I can to deal with the Guardians at my end- they're not exactly endearing themselves to me, after all-, but while I'm doing that, _you _can deal with a little problem for _me_."

"Which is?" Voldemort asked, his fingers tensing around his staff as Ooze continued to speak.

"Well, thanks to your little excursion, I had an interesting idea about how to deal with that little problem," Ooze said, smiling at the heir of Slytherin. "When the time comes, I intend to send three of the Patronus Force Rangers here to this dimension, where you can take care of them without any interference from their friends!"

"And in return, I will receive…?" Voldemort asked, looking curiously at the purple man.

"Well, if you manage to succeed in disposing of the Patronus Force Rangers that I send to this world, I will allow you to have a few more toys from my rather vast arsenal to play with," Ooze said, shrugging nonchalantly at the other man. "Do we have a deal?"

For a moment, Voldemort looked contemplatively at Ooze as he turned around to sit back down on the throne, his gaze giving away none of his inner thoughts, before he raised Rita's staff and fired a burst of lightning energy at Ooze, the force of the blast striking Ooze with such intensity that he was sent staggering back into the wall behind him before he could react.

"_No_," Voldemort said simply.

"_Nobody_-!" Ooze began, raising his hand to launch a ball of dark energy at Voldemort, only for a newly-generated Shield Charm to absorb the ball before it could strike its target.

"I am _not _your agent, Ivan Ooze," Voldemort said, glaring firmly at the other villain. "If you have yet to prevail against the Rangers, I have no interested in bothering to assist you with your problem when I have already dealt with mine to my satisfaction. I do not doubt that you know how to handle conventional wizards, but I am _not _a conventional wizard; with the power of this staff, and the knowledge that I have acquired since I discovered it, I am _far _more than that…"

"I am still far beyond _anything_-" Ooze began indignantly.

"And yet _you _have come to _me _for 'help'?" Voldemort said, looking mockingly at Ooze. "Lord Voldemort does not give help, Ooze; he sees what he desires and takes it for his own. In any case, why should I help you to defeat the foes that you cannot defeat yourself; if you are powerful enough to defeat the Hogwarts Guardians, than you can clearly handle your own enemies, and if you cannot accomplish that than you are not worth my time."

For a moment, Ooze simply glared at Voldemort, but then he shrugged and stepped back with a smile.

"Very well," the strange new arrival told the human wizard. "You want to do things on your own and in your own way, and I can respect that. Farewell."

With that, he turned around and waved a hand, a crackling energy portal appearing in front of him ta he subsequently walked through before it vanished again, leaving Voldemort alone in the throne room once more.

Voldemort wasn't going to believe for a moment that the other being would leave him alone after such a rejection- it was not what Voldemort would have done in such a position, even if he would _never _stoop so low as to ask another for help-, but he had brought himself time to strengthen his hold and prepare a new plan; that would suffice for now.

The only question now was what he should do next…


	54. Zords at Large

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Hope this proves to be worth the wait

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As the zords moved into position around Wandemort, Hermione was trying not to panic at the current plan.

Honestly, why had she _ever _thought that she could handle this aspect of her Ranger responsibilities? She'd only ever flown the Ravenclaw Eagle as far as she needed to fly it to form the Guardian Megazord- that flight to meet Jason didn't count as they'd just been going straight on; she'd basically just set the coordinates and let the zord do the rest of it while they took the opportunity to rest-, and now she was preparing to _fight _a sentient wand with the skills of Lord Voldemort, who'd nearly defeated them the last time they fought him _before _his upgrade?

Even if they had back-up now, she was _not _looking forward to this match-up…

"_Guardian Rangers_," Amanda's voice said over the radio, "_if you look to the right side of your controls, you should see a gold-coloured crystal. __That __is the activation control for the Magi-cells that I installed while I was repairing your Zords. Whenever you need your Zords to fire off a spell, you simply place your hand on the crystal and speak the incantation for the spell you require_!"

Looking for the gold crystal in question, Hermione didn't even pause to think about it; not wanting to get in any closer to Wandemort than she had to, she slammed her hand onto the crystal and yelled out "_Reducto_!"

The resulting hex was naturally larger than any spell she'd cast previously, erupting from her zord's beak to tear into Wandemort's body with a powerful burst of energy, splintering wood around the target area as Wandemort was sent staggering backwards. Their foe off-balance, the Lion and Acromantula zords leapt towards him- Hermione briefly wondered if Sylvia had sent that zord to attack because she was in it or if she chose it for the variety of attacks it offered; they'd never actually asked which of her three zords Sylvia considered her 'main' zord-, the Lion sending Wandemort to the ground as it pinned the monster's legs while the Acromantula's long legs curled around Wandemort's upper body and its mandibles began to 'knaw' at the wooden head. Roaring in rage, Wandemort fired a spell that sent the Lion flying away from him, but the Acromantula merely tightened its grip, Wandemort's subsequent attempt to tear it away merely resulting in it leaving deep gouges in the wood that made up the creature's body.

"_Keep him pinned down, Sylvia_!" Alan yelled over the comm channel.

"_I'm… trying_!" the Black Guardian Ranger replied, clearly straining as the Acromantula's legs waved as it tried to maintain a hold on Wandemort's body. "_But it's taking… everything… I've got_!"

Before Hermione or any of her teammate could take action themselves, Alan spoke again. "_Syliva, when I give you the signal, release Wandemort and move out of the way_."

"_What's the plan, Alan_?" Jake asked, the Blue Patronus Force Hawkzord moving into a circling position about the Red Patronus Force Wolfzord.

"_I take it you've noticed that Wandemort has a similar weakness to every other wizard I've met so far_?" Jason's voice added, the White Warrior waiting off to the side for his moment, the human-shaped zord seemingly staring grimly at their foe.

"_The fact that he has to move his arms_?" Alan said. "_Yeah, that's what I was thinking; if we can hit him hard enough, we might have a chance_…"

With the kind of expertise and timing that could only come from experience at working together over a long period, the Yellow Lioness and the Red Wolf were suddenly running towards Wandemort at full speed, the Acromantula releasing its grip on the sentient wand and leaping to safety as a volley of fireballs were launched from the Wolfzord, striking Wandemort just as he was getting back to his feet and knocking him to the ground once again.

"_Beautiful shot_!" Elizabeth's voice said as she moved her zord into position. "_Now it's _my _turn! Thunder Roar_- FIRE!"

With that command, a beam of light burst from the Lionesszord's mouth, bathing Wandemort in yellow energy and sending him back to the ground once more, agony obvious even without his loss of balance.

"_Hermione_," Jake's voice suddenly yelled from the Blue Hawkzord, "_follow me! We need to try a dual attack while he's reeling_!"

Nodding in understanding, Hermione moved into position to follow the Hawkzord, the other blue bird-zord diving towards Wandemort as its wings began to glow blue before a series of hatches opened up around its wings, deploying a series of booster rockets that accelerated the zord's already-high speed to fighter-jet-like levels, hurtling towards Wandemort with such speed that Hermione could do little more than copy his manoeuvre, channelling all the power that she could spare into her own zord's engines to get it into position to strike Wandemort with its left wing just as the Hawkzord struck it with its right.

"_Nice job_!" Ginny's voice yelled as Hermione pulled up. "_Sylvia, care to show this creep the power of the serpents on our side_?"

"_Count me in too_!" Ron's voice yelled over the radio.

Turning the Eagle back to face their foe, Hermione grinned as the Serpent and Basilisk zords slithered forward to wrap themselves around Wandemort's arms, the weight of the two green zords pinning the monster to the ground as the Badger leapt on top of it, its claws digging into the monster below it as though it was attempting to burrow through Wandemort into the ground below, tearing out various large chunks of wood. Roaring in rage, Wandemort raised his arms and slammed the two serpentine zords against the Badger, leaving a pair of shocking dents in the arms of Ron's zord as it rolled away from its position on top of the monster. Roaring in rage, Wandemort scrambled to his feet, only to suddenly find himself facing the charging Black Rhinozord, which hooked its silver horn between the monster's legs as it ran.

"_Head goes _up!" Nathan said, sounding like he was grinning as he raised his zord's head to send Wandemort flying. "_And the git goes_ down!"

Almost as soon as Nathan had finished that sentence, Wandemort was back on his feet, launching a powerful burst of energy at the black zord that sent it flying through the air, crashing into a nearby building with such force that the structure collapsed.

"DO YOU FOOLS ACTUALLY THINK THAT YOU CAN DESTROY ME WITH SUCH PITIFUL ATTACKS?" Wandemort screeched.

"_The thought came to mind_," Jason said, the Dragon Warrior stepping forward as it raised its staff. For a moment, the two fighters clashed, Wandemort's arms temporarily being used as blunt weapons before Jason managed to slip the staff past Wandemort's arms, striking the monster in the chest before yanking the staff back at an angle that resulted in him breaking the tip off one of his opponent's arms. Roaring in rage, Wandemort lashed out with a Blasting Hex that knocked the Dragon Warrior back, but the sentient wand was prevented from following up the attack when the Rhinozord exploded out of the rubble, its subsequent charge knocking Wandemort off his feet.

"_Sorry, you over-emotional chunk of useless wood_!" Nathan yelled over his zord's external speaker. "_You pack a punch, but it'll take more than what you can dish out to keep_ this _rhino down_!"

As though on cue, the Basilisk and Serpent zords took advantage of Wandemort's shaken state and leapt up from the ground to wrap around Wandemort's arms, the snake-like zords alternating between biting into Wandemort's 'skin' with their bare teeth or firing off a variety of close-range spells from their eyes that whittled away further chunks of wood.

"I think we're wearing him down!" Hermione said, looking at their adversary with a hopeful smile.

"_My thoughts exactly_!" Amanda said. "_Let's take him out now and be done with it_!"

"_I agree_!" Alan said. "_Ginny, Sylvia, keep Wandemort occupied; Patronus Megazord, power up_!"

As Hermione watched, the Patronus Megazord quickly put itself together before it began to stomp towards Wandemort, raising the Mega-Sabers as it glared at their enemy. As the Megazord approached, the two snake zords released Wandemort, leaving the Megazord to draw back its weapons.

"_OK, guys_," Alan said over the radio, "_time to snap this wand_!"

"PATRONUS MEGAZORD!" the Patronus Force Rangers began to proclaim over the radio. "_FINAL_-!"

"RANGERS!" Zordon's voice suddenly proclaimed, the alien wizard's voice sounding far more panicked than Hermione had ever heard before. "_YOU MUST NOT DESTROY WANDEMORT AT THIS TIME_!"

"_What_?" Harry said incredulously.

"_Why not, Zordon_?" Elizabeth asked.

"_ACCORDING TO THE SCANS ALPHA AND I HAVE MADE __WANDEMORT'S DESTRUCTION WOULD RESULT IN THE DARK ZEO CRYSTAL WITHIN HIM EXPLODING_," Zordon explained. "_THE CRYSTAL WAS POWERFUL ON ITS OWN, BUT COMBINED WITH THE FOCUSED POTENTIAL OF WANDEMORT, IT IS CURRENTLY INA STATE WHERE IT IS CONSTANTLY CHANNELING POWER; IF IT IS DISRUPTED BY WANDEMORT'S DEFEAT, THE EXPLOSION __WOULD BE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO DESTROY BOTH ANGEL GROVE AND NEARBY STONE CANYON_."

"_Oh_, great!" Ron's voice groaned. "_So what are we supposed to do? Use bad language_?"

Further conversation was interrupted as Wandemort's hands suddenly glowed with a powerful wave of magical energy, lashing out at the retreating serpent zords before turning his attention back to the Megazord before him. With no other option available, the Patronus Megazord moved rapidly, lashing out with the dual Mega-Sabres and slicing off Wandemort's arms at the elbows, leaving the monster screaming in agony before the Patronus Megazord summoned a set of heavy chains that wrapped themselves tightly around the literally-disarmed monster.

"_That should hold him until we can work out what to do with him_," Alan grimly said.

"So… right now, our options are to just keep an eye on this thing and stop it doing anything?" Hermione asked, looking anxiously at the fuming Wandemort; from her position, it looked like his damaged arms were already beginning to repair themselves, which would just leave them with even _more _trouble to deal with…

"You filthy mudbloods…" Wandemort said, chuckling scornfully even as he glared at the zords that were even now taking up guarding positions around him. "You have no chance against my glorious master! Once he completes his task on his world, he shall come and take _this _world for his own…"

"_Does Voldemort rant this much_?" Jason asked Harry.

"_When he's certain he's going to win, yeah_," Harry replied. "_He was a lot more succinct when he was fighting Dumbledore in the Department of Mysteries a couple of years ago, but he just seemed to want to talk back when I encountered his first horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets or when he was talking to his Death Eaters after his resurrection_."

"_So we can't expect him to shut up any time soon, in other words_?" Nathan asked with a groan. "_Well, that's just_ great…"

"_Personally, I'm_ glad _that he's running his mouth_," Alan said, sounding surprisingly nonchalant about his last statement.

"_Why in the name of Merlin do you even want to listen to this wanker_?" Ginny asked, voicing Hermione's own incredulity.

"_Because_," Alan said in response, "_if Stick-Boy here can't shut up, maybe we'll manage to work out how Voldemort sent you here_-"

"And how to get back ourselves, right?" Hermione asked, following Alan's train of thought.

"As well as what he's actually trying to accomplish here in the first place," Harry put in. "_Voldemort never showed any sign of branching out in the past until he was sure that he had control of his territory already; he might be willing to accelerate his advance now that we're out of the way, but since he still doesn't know that _I'm here, he shouldn't be moving that fast."

"_Right_," Alan said, before the sound of another switch signalled the activation of the Patronus Megazord's external speakers. "_By the way, Wanda, how_ did _Voldemort discover how to breach the inter-dimensional barrier? __That Half-Blood hypocrite can't __possibly __be _that_intelligent_!"

"HOW _DARE _YOU SPEAK OF MY MASTER WITH SUCH AN AIR OF _DISRESPECT, _YOU _FILTHY MUDBLOOD_!" Wandemort bellowed in fury, still struggling against his bonds as his arms continued to regenerate. "MY MASTER IS THE _GREATEST _WIZARD IN HISTORY! AND NOW THAT HE HAS OBTAINED HIS NEW WAND AND THE ORB OF DOOM, HE HAS BECOME EVEN _GREATER_!"

"_The Orb of Doom_?" Tommy repeated in shock. "_So_ that's _how Voldemort sent us here_!"

"_Uh… what's the Orb of Doom_?" Amanda's voice asked, beating Hermione to the question she was about to ask.

"_Before my team acquired the power of the Zeo Crystal, a villain by the name of Master Vile used the Orb of Doom- a powerful crystal granting the user mastery over time itself- to reverse the time stream, turning us into children_," Tommy explained grimly. "_It was thought to have been destroyed once we were able to set Earth back to the proper time, but it sounds like Voldemort somehow acquired the Orb for himself_."

"_And… what; decided to use the Orb to send us sideways in time_?" Ethan asked.

"_Sideways_?" Kira repeated in confusion.

"_Old theory I read in some sci-fi thing once_," Ethan explained. "_You go back and forward in time to go into the past or the future, so going into a parallel universe where something different happened compared to our world is considered going_ sideways _in time_."

"That… actually makes sense," Hermione said, nodding thoughtfully at her fellow Blue's theory. "Voldemort probably thought we'd be worse off in some other world with no obvious way back; he probably never expected that we'd be fortunate enough to reach a world with its own Power Rangers…"

"_OK, so we have the 'how' answered; does that help us work out how to undo it at all_?" Conner asked.

"_ATTENTION, POWER RANGERS_," Zordon's voice suddenly announced over the communication system. "_IN ORDER TO EXTRACT THE DARK ZEO CRYSTAL, MEGAN HAS TELEPORTED INSIDE WANDEMORT'S BODY IN ORDER TO SHRINK IT DOWN. ONCE THIS TASK HAS BEEN COMPLETED, IT WILL BE SAFE TO DISPOSE OF THE MONSTER_."

"_Megan_," Alan suddenly said over the radio, the Patronus Force Red Ranger's attention now focused on this new item of information, "_can you hear me_?"

For a few moments, there was only silence, and then Megan's voice replied, her tone surprisingly casual considering her apparent position. "_Sorry; it took a while to get my communicator out of my pocket_."

"_What's your status_?" Alan asked.

"_I'm inside Wandemort_," Megan replied, her voice now sounding suitably strained from the effort of the task that she had assigned herself. "_I have to climb up this big feather, so it's going to take me a few minutes to get to where the Crystal is_."

"_Just be careful in there_," Alan replied grimly.

"_I knew you cared_," Megan replied with a teasing tone.

Whatever response Alan might have made was interrupted as several fast-moving blurs struck the gathered zords; Hermione barely managed to regain control of the Eagle Zord's flight pattern before it crashed into the ground, and all other zords were knocked off their feet (Or at least onto their sides in the case of the Basilisk and Serpent zords).

"Is everyone all right?" she asked, anxiously scanning the surrounding zords as they began to scramble back to their feet.

"We're fine," Tommy's voice said, his tone showing that he was just as shaken at this turn of events as Hermione felt. "But it looks like we have company!"

Turning to look in the direction that the Black Shogunzord was facing, Hermione's eyes widened in horror at the sight of six giant humanoid figures approaching the fallen zords, each one a distinctive colour that left little doubt in Hermione's mind what she was looking at.

"Well well well," Psycho Red said, glaring sadistically at his assembled adversaries, the other Psychos standing behind him ready for action. "What do we have here?"

"It looks like this little job is going to be more _fun _than we'd originally thought!" Psycho Blue said, cackling sadistically as he raised a vicious-looking axe above his head.

"First, we take care of the Rangers, and then we take out _Wimpymort_!" Psycho White said, nodding briefly in Wandemort's direction as he drew his whip and gave it an experimental crack.

"_Uh… Jason_?" Alan's voice asked. "_I __thought __you said these guys had _monster_ forms __when they got big_?"

"_Ooze probably made some adjustments to that bit_," Jason replied, the White Guardian Ranger's tone grim as the Dragon Warrior shifted into a familiar combat stance. "_Either way, this isn't going to be easy_…"

"Sean," Alan said, his voice grim as he made contact with the newest member of his team, "_I think __it's high time that you called in an old friend_!"

"Right," Sean's voice replied, before he issued another command. "I call on the power of the Dragonzord!"

As a series of musical notes filled the air, the large, green-and-black form of the Dragonzord appeared over the horizon, quickly walking into position alongside Alan's Werewolf Battlezord.

"You can summon as many of your tincans as you want, Rangers!" the Red Psycho Ranger said, looking scornfully at the other assembled zords. "You _still _don't have the power to defeat us!"

"We'll see about _that_," Alan said, equally defiant as he countered the Psychos' rants. "Harry, Sylvia, form your Megazords; Conner, you and the others use the Shogunzords to provide solo support, while Jason keeps Wandemort safe until Megan's recovered the Dark Zeo Crystal!"

"_Sounds like a plan_!" Conner said with a satisfied grin.

"_Alright_," Alan said firmly. "_I'm switching to the Werewolf Batlezord; we need_ firepower!"

There was a momentary pause in the conversation, and then Alan's voice was being transmitted from the previously-remote-controlled Werewolf Battlezord. "_All right; you ready to take part in your first Zord battle, Sean_?"

"_I was_ born _ready, cuz_!" Sean replied eagerly. "_Man, this Zord is just too awesome_!"

"_I always liked it_," Tommy added, even as he and the other Shogunzords manoeuvred into position while the Guardian Megazord and the Dark Guardian Megazord came together on either side of them. "_Anyway, just take care of it, OK_?"

"_Sure thing_!" Sean replied, as the Dragonzord turned to move into position alongside the others.

"_Let's get this party started_!" Alan said. "_Lunar Cannons,_ FIRE!"

As the battle began, Hermione once again sitting alongside her original three teammates from the moment when she had first become a Ranger, facing six monsters with a larger number of zords, she found herself suddenly apprehensive about their chances; from what Jason and Tommy had told them about the original Psychos, they had their work cut out for this fight…


	55. Putting Things Together

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: A shift of focus here, as we return to 'my' Ranger universe and witness how things are going for some of Jason's contacts rather than Harry's

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

The day's classes at his dojo over at last, Rocky collapsed in his chair in the manager's office with a sigh of relief.

He might have kept himself in shape even after retiring from the Ranger game- his back had needed some time to heal from the damage he'd sustained, but once that was done it was like he'd never stopped-, but that didn't mean he was comfortable keeping up with so many classes on his own. Adam had volunteered to come over and help out if he could, but Rocky had turned the offer down; they might have been 'official' business rivals, but considering that they were based on opposite sides of Angel Grove, neither the Red Dragon Dojo or The Alpha Academy had ever really bothered about who got what customers so long as they were passing on their skills, and Rocky didn't think it was right to ask Adam to take time away from his own dojo to help him with his.

Right now, however, Rocky's main concern was working out where his business partner actually was these days. He had been keeping track of Jason through the news, of course- this new Ranger team was a bit more mobile than most teams, but it wasn't hard to notice when a group of zords popped up-, but there'd been no trace of the 'Hogwarts Guardians' since a brief sighting of them in Reefside alongside the Dino Thunder Rangers, and there wasn't enough information about what had happened then to confirm what had happened one way or the other. He'd been in the game enough to know that, when it came to fighting with superpowers, they weren't dead until you'd seen something left behind after the battle- even if, in the case of monsters, that was commonly only the blast radius of the area they'd been before they were blown up-, but that portal that had been reported in their area before they vanished didn't exactly inspire much faith that the team was completely safe.

Add in the fact that he hadn't even been able to make contact with Tommy since then- they might have fallen out of touch since the shift to Turbo, but Rocky still kept in touch with the team when he could-, and Rocky was _really _getting worried…

The sound of a phone ringing provided Rocky with a welcome distraction; it was a bit late for regular business hours, but since he took bookings around this time, it wasn't like it was unexpected.

"Red Dragon Dojo," he said, picking up the phone with a casual smile, forgetting his previous concerns as he focused on the matter at hand. "Rocky DeSantos speaking; how may I help you?"

"_Rocky_?" a familiar voice said. "_This is Billy… Billy Cranston_."

Rocky's eyes widened incredulously.

"_Billy_?" he said, unable to stop himself grinning broadly before he instinctively lowered his voice; former Rangers had maintained good security on their private lines ever since the Lightspeed Rescue team were established- they'd been the first team to have the right contemporary connections to get that kind of thing set up with the minimal amount of questions-, but it was hard to resist the training to be quiet when talking about Ranger-related duties. "Oh my God… where are you? Are you back on Earth?"

"_I'm at my house_," the original Blue Ranger replied. "_Look, __Jason and his new team are in trouble. I can't tell you what's going on over the phone; how soon can you get here_?"

"I finished my last class an hour ago and was just going over the books and getting the equipment away before leaving," Jason replied, glancing at his watch and making a quick mental inventory before he finished his sentence. "If the traffic's good, I can be with you in about an hour."

He didn't have any obvious idea what Billy was doing back on Earth, but if he knew about Jason's new team, and considering the circumstances of their last recorded sighting, there were a few potential possibilities that presented themselves, and none of them were that encouraging for his business partner and his new team…

"_Get here when you can_," Billy said grimly. "_I'm going to need your help, but I'll explain it all when you get here; I'll leave the front door unlocked and you can find me in my lab_."

"I'll be there," Rocky said firmly before he ended the call, quickly turning his attention back to the matter at hand; cleaning up his training equipment and getting over to the Cranston house as quickly as possible.

* * *

"DAMNIT!" Ginny yelled in frustration, as the Guardian Megazord barely managed to deflect the latest attack from Psycho Blue as the powerful evil Ranger charged towards them. They might maintain a numerical advantage thanks to the Shogun Zords and Wandemort being immobilised, but even with the Dragonzord on their side the Psycho Rangers were proving to be more than a match for their Ranger counterparts.

"Oh, come _on_!" Ron groaned, as Psycho Yellow neatly deflected a blow from the White Warrior. "We've got these guys outnumbered; why is this so _hard_?"

"They're evil Rangers and there's a signal lag between the commands we're giving the zords and their ability to put them into action; technology can't keep up with natural ability, Ron!" Hermione yelled, cursing in frustration as she narrowly parried another attack. "We're not going to win this fight this way; even with numbers, they're just too fast for us!"

Harry hated to admit it, but he agreed with Hermione's assessment. Most of the monsters they'd faced so far had been relatively amateurish when it came down to a direct physical confrontation between them and the Ranger team, particularly with the additional training they had been receiving from Jason, but the Psychos were fighting with a definite purpose behind their moves, taking action and retaliating with signs of an actual _plan _behind their efforts rather than just trying to beat them to death.

If they didn't come up with something soon, their Voldemort wasn't going to be a problem they'd have to deal with, because they'd be too busy being the first people to die in an alternate universe to worry about him…

* * *

Walking into Billy's old house, Rocky wasn't surprised to hear Billy's voice calling for him from the old laboratory; even after his son had relocated to another planet, Mr Cranston still kept everything in order, just in case his son ever felt the need to come back to Earth…

As he entered the lab, Rocky was kind of surprised to see Billy looking so relatively young as he sat there- he almost seemed to be only a couple of years older than he had been when he'd left Earth, despite almost a decade having passed since then-, but reminded himself of Billy's contact with whatever Fountain of Youth they'd had on Aquitar and pushed it aside; maybe Billy's exposure to it had slowed his regular aging as well as curing his accelerated aging.

"Hey, Billy," Rocky said, grinning at his friend and predecessor as the Blue Ranger. "Good to see you again; how's Cestria?"

"Rocky," Billy said, after a brief moment of confusion that Rocky had never seen Billy express when asked such a minor question, "before you get too excited about seeing me, there's something that you need to know and it's _not _going to be easy to explain…"

"Does this have anything to do with Jason and his new team?" Rocky asked, cutting off Billy's original question. "You said something about him being in trouble."

"It has everything to do with Jason, and that's why I'm here," Billy replied. "While I _am _Billy Cranston, I'm _not _the Billy that you believe me to be."

For a moment, Rocky wondered if he was looking at that old clone of Billy they'd had to deal with shortly before the loss of the Thunderzords- that experience had given them all a few nightmares; so many of the team had confessed their concerns in the aftermath that they'd shoot one Billy and then the other would start laughing about how they'd just killed their friend-, but shook that off; an evil clone wouldn't look this awkward about revealing his identity to him.

"What do you mean, you're not the Billy I know?" he asked at last.

"I mean just that," Billy explained. "I'm not sure as to how I can explain, but I have to try anyway; it might be better if you have a seat."

"OK…" Rocky said, looking uncertainly at Billy as he sat down. "So… what's the story here?"

He'd come to expect the unexpected during his time as a Ranger- it was kind of hard not to learn that anything could happen to you in this game after you were reverted to your pre-teen self-, but that still left a lot of possible alternative explanations for Billy's cryptic statement…

* * *

Jason had always known that the Psycho Rangers were far from pushovers- even without the stories he'd heard from Andros and Leo, these were the bad guys who'd actually _killed _a Ranger; they might have managed to bring Kendrix back later, but that kind of loss had an effect on everyone who got into the game since by providing a clear reminder of their mortality-, but he wasn't sure he'd ever fully appreciated how tough the Space Rangers had had it when fighting them until now.

Tommy's new team and their use of the Shogunzords might have given them enough of a numerical advantage to hold their own against the giant-sized Psychos, but he was rapidly realising that there was only so much the raw power of the zords could do when up against a trained opponent who didn't have to worry about reaction time. The Green Patronus Force Ranger was making efficient use of the Dragonzord against Psycho Green, but that didn't make up for the fact that Ethan and Trent had been taken out of the game for the moment after Psycho Blue's last attack, and there was only so much that the other zords could do to stop the bad guys and limit collateral damage…

"Alan," Jason sent out to the Werewolf Battlezord as he and Tommy ended up back-to-back against the White and Black Psycho Rangers, "we can't keep this up much longer! As much as I hate to say it, we have to retreat!"

Alan didn't immediately respond to Jason's communication at first, but his subsequent response provided an explanation as to what he'd been doing in those moments. "_Guys, Megan needs more time but our Zords __and __Angel Grove are getting trashed so we'll need to change tactics! We have to try and get the Psycho Rangers to face us on the ground_!"

"How are we going to do that?" Ron asked, the Guardian Megazord narrowly evading a blow from Psycho Yellow that could have taken the Serpent Zord arm off.

"_If they're as hotheaded as Jason has indicated them to be, all too easily_," Alan replied grimly, before activating the Battlezord's external speakers. "_Hey Psychos! Why don't you meet us face-to-face if you've got the guts_?"

"_WHAT_?" Psycho Red roared, glaring at the Werewolf Battlezord as Alan leapt from it.

"He's got a point," Jason said, looking mockingly at the Psycho Rangers as he realised Alan's plan; it was risky, but it might have a chance if what he'd heard about the Psychoes' egos was accurate. "You're coping against a bunch of machines with delayed reaction time; how do you think you'll handle us in a fight where we're physically equal and have the numerical edge?"

"_He has a point_," Conner's voice added with a smile. "_You might be coping when it's ten to six, but what happens when it's _seventeen_ to six and we're reacting faster to what you do_?"

"You think that we're afraid of _numbers_?" Psycho Red said, looking mockingly at Jason as the Patronus Force followed Alan in departing their zords, although the Dino Thunder and Hogwarts Guardian teams remained in their zords for the moment. "We can defeat you Rangers, no matter _how _you outnumber us!"

Waiting a moment until the Psychos had shrunk back down to regular size, Jason leapt out of his zord to join his teammates, pausing only long enough to glance back at the battered zords as they turned around to retreat back towards their hangers.

He'd just have to hope that the damage hadn't reached the point of the beating that had required the Zeo Rangers to introduce the Red Battlezord ahead of schedule- from what he recalled, the Zeo Megazord had been down for about a week after that-, and focus on the matter facing them right now. Turning around, he smiled at the grim sight of the Psycho Rangers standing before him and his expanded team, all armed and ready to fight; they might be powerful, but it wasn't something that would be impossible for them to handle.

"You Rangers are so _pathetic_!" Psycho Red said, laughing scornfully at his adversaries. "Why don't you just give up?"

"We're not backing down to _you_, you pieces of arrogant _garbage_!" Sylvia retorted.

"Brave words, Black Guardian Ranger!" Black Psycho said, smirking as he looked at her. "However, I _know _you're too scared to face us!"

"We're down here to take you on mano-a-mano; how is _that _'weak'?" Nathan said, drawing his own Patronus Sabre and shifting into combat position alongside Sylvia and Tommy, the rest of the Rangers present doing the same as they moved into position alongside their colour counterparts.

"Besides," Conner said with a firm authority in his voice, "we might be up against the odds, but at least we know what we're fighting for; what the _hell _are you here for beyond trying to kill us?"

With those words, both sides charged towards each other, weapons meeting in a powerful clash as the Rangers met their Psycho counterparts.

* * *

"OK, let me see if I have this right…" Rocky said, pacing back and forth through the garage laboratory. "I knew that Jason had joined a new team, but you're saying the new team's made of teenage wizards fighting a psycho dark wizard trying to take over the world, and now they're all in another universe with Tommy's latest team where Zordon's alive and working with _another _group of teenaged wizards, and you've come here_ from _that world to try and get the Zeo Crystal to open up a portal to get them back home?"

"That's the basic situation," Billy confirmed. "I know that it's hard to believe-"

"Hey, I _believe _you; I just don't get why you need the Zeo Crystal," Rocky said. "Why can't they just use the same method to get here that you did?"

"If it was just them, they'd already be home, but we have to get their zords back home as well, which means that we need the extra energy of the Zeo Crystal in order to generate a large enough portal to get them back as well," Billy explained. "Anyway, Tommy was able to direct me to where he keeps his Zeo Crystal segment back in his house, but if we're going to make this work, we need all five parts, which means we need the rest of the Zeo team; can you help me find them?"

"Well, that's easy enough," Rocky said, smiling nonchalantly at him. "Tanya's still here in Angel Grove and she can get in touch with Adam since she knows his work schedule; once they're here, we can then contact Kat in London for the Pink Zeo Crystal."

"That sounds simple enough," Billy said, nodding in slight surprise at the alternate version of his friend.

"Anyway," Rocky said, "if we're on to that, how are you going to contact Dimitria? From what you told me, she's not exactly in a fixed location any more…"

"With this," Billy explained, holding up a device that he had been working on at his workbench. "Once I get to the Power Chamber, I'll use this beacon to send an inter-dimensional pulse that I'm hoping will get her attention."

"Sounds like a plan," Rocky said with a nod. "But how are we going to get to the Power Chamber? I mean, I can drive us-"

"Once I'm able to key my communicator into the Power Chamber's mainframe, I'll be able to teleport in," Billy explained, turning his attention back to the device as he spoke. "Afterwards, I'll get the necessary equipment up and running; which includes Amanda's inter-dimensional communications relay that will allow contact with Zordon through the Power Chamber's Viewing Globe."

"Amanda?" Rocky said, smiling despite the unusual circumstances. "And who's she? A… friend… of yours?"

"Don't start, Rocky," Billy said, shooting a glare at his fellow Blue Ranger. "I've already gone through that song and dance with Jason so I don't need it from _you_…"

Rocky didn't need to do more than stare at Billy for a few moments before he pulled a photograph out of his pocket and held it up for Rocky's perusal. The picture showed Rocky's original Ranger team standing with a group of six other people he didn't immediately recognise, including a man with light-blonde hair in a red T-shirt and blue denim shorts, a red-haired woman in a yellow sleeveless blouse and denim skirt, a brown-haired man in a blue polo shirt and khaki pants, a tall and slender girl with dark-blonde hair in a white shirt and pink overalls, a tall man in a black sleeveless shirt and black shorts, and another blond in a pink blouse and white jeans.

"Amanda's the one standing between Kimberly and Adam," Billy explained.

"Good on you, Billy," Rocky said, grinning as he studied the indicated blonde in the pink blouse before he turned his attention to the rest. "So who are the others?"

"The one in red standing between Tommy and your other self is Alan," Billy explained. "He's Amanda's brother and the current Red Ranger and leader."

"Ranger siblings?" Rocky asked. "That's a new one…"

"Well, Amanda wasn't a Ranger at that time," Billy explained, a new, grim manner about him as he spoke. "Their White Ranger when that photograph was taken was Luna; she's standing on Kimberly's other side."

"Ah," Rocky said, looking briefly at the indicated blonde. "What happened to her?"

"Ivan re-created Nimrod and the following attack resulted in him basically overloading Luna's body's ability to channel her magic," Billy explained. "She went into suspended animation so that we could work on draining off the excess energy safely, and appointed Amanda to take over her duties as the White Ranger in the intervening time."

"Sounds like a plan," Rocky said, looking back at the photo. "And the hot redhead is?"

"I think she's a little young for you," Billy said, although the grin took away any potential sting at his words.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to pay a compliment," Rocky replied with a nonchalant shrug. "So, her name?"

"Elizabeth, the current Yellow Ranger," Billy explained. "She's basically the Kimberly to Adam's Tommy, escape that they got it together more quickly than they did. The last two are Nathan and Jake, the Black and Blue Rangers respectively, although they also acquired a Green Ranger recently in the form of Alan and Amanda's half-cousin Sean."

"Sounds like an interesting group, anyway," Rocky noted with a smile. "So… how's things going over there?"

"Complicated," Billy said, his earlier smile fading as he assumed a grimmer expression. "When I left, all three teams were facing off against the Psycho Rangers-"

"The _Psycho Rangers_?" Rocky interrupted, unable to believe what he'd heard; the Rangers' boogeymen were back? "How did _those _walking nightmares get there?"

"Jason was captured by our current enemy and had his memories scanned," Billy explained. "Ooze had already been working on his own dark Rangers, but Jason's memories of the stories he'd heard about the Psychos from Andros and Leo allowed our foe to create his own versions…"

Further discussion on that topic was cut short as a nearby computer beeped, Billy turning around to smile at the information it was displaying on his screen before he began to work on his communicator, apparently making a few final adjustments before he strapped it on to his wrist.

"Need a lift to the Power Chamber?" he asked Rocky.

"I have a bad habit of keeping my old communicator with me," Rocky replied, handing the photograph back to Billy as he indicated the device in question where it remained on his wrist; he might have retired, but he'd been sure to keep himself available in case.

With that, the two Blue Rangers activated the devices and teleported away.

* * *

Harry made a mental note to give Jason full permission to get Ginny to curse him if he ever complained about their training sessions once they got back home; if it hadn't been for Jason, he'd probably be dead already in the current fight against Psycho Red. Even with their unvoiced agreement to coordinate the attack by teaming up with their coloured counterparts on other teams against their respective Psycho, they were still dealing with a considerable amount of raw power; he'd already seen Elizabeth take a potentially serious wound to the back when Psycho Yellow had stabbed her earlier, only for Ron to force Psycho Yellow back long enough for Kira to help Elizabeth to her feet. Ginny and Sean were doing fairly well despite their obvious disadvantage compared to the other team-ups due to the lack of a Green Dino Thunder Ranger, but they were still only just holding their own, and even the three-on-one fights of the other Ranger teams looked like they were having trouble…

Interestingly enough, Alan seemed to be having more trouble against his opponent than the others- the other Psychos were skilled fighters, but Psycho Red seemed to be matching Alan's moves in particular with disturbing ease even to Harry's inexperienced eye-, but thoughts on that were forgotten as Psycho Red's next blow actually cut through Alan's glove, sending Alan staggering backwards before he tried to retaliate with a spell rather than a physical attack.

The resulting blast of energy as Psycho Red attempted to deflect the Blasting Hex hurled Alan off his feet while leaving his enemy relatively unharmed, forcing Harry and Conner to step back in and deflect Psycho Red's blade before it could make contact. As Conner helped Alan to his feet, Harry leapt into battle against Psycho Red, his more haphazard combat style allowing him to outmanoeuvre his enemy thanks to the unpredictability that Jason had commented would be their main advantage in a fight. Determined to give Alan a chance to recuperate, Harry continued to slash and hack against his foe, only briefly registering Alan talking to someone on his communicator before a glance at the still-immobilised Wandemort revealed that he was starting to break free of his chains.

_Great_… Harry groaned. _We have a major threat to deal with, and the _other _monster has to start breaking out…_

The momentary distraction caused by him registering that turn of events was enough for Psycho Red to get past his defences, knocking him to the ground before he get his Guardian Blade back into a defensive position. The monster was just raising his feet to stamp on Harry's head when a furious roar from Wandemort ended as the chains holding him snapped, leaving him free to get to his feet. Harry spared a brief moment to wonder if Megan had managed to recover the Dark Zeo Crystal from the monster, but his attention was called back to the present as Psycho Red ordered the other Psychos to withdraw, leaving Alan to help Harry back to his feet as he glanced around the room at the other Rangers; Harry vaguely heard Psycho Red order the other Psycho Rangers to retreat, but he was too busy making sure nothing was broken to process the exact words…

"Harry?" Alan asked, breaking through his disorientation with the specific address. "You OK?"

"Bit dazed, but I'll be all right," Harry said, before turning his attention to Wandemort. "Right now, though, looks like we have bigger problems…"

A welcome distraction was provided as Megan suddenly apparated in front of the three Red Rangers, holding a strange rifle-shaped device in her hands.

"Megan!" Alan said, grinning at her in relief. "You made it!"

"_And _with the Dark Zeo Crystal," Megan added, patting her jeans pocket with a smile. "I shrunk it down enough that Alpha should be able to get rid of it with no problems."

"FILTHY MUDBLOODS!" Wandemort suddenly yelled at them, drawing their attention back to the massive monster before them as he aimed one giant arm at them. "You have been an annoyance for far too long; your pathetic resistance ends here! _AVADA KEDAVRA_!"

For a moment, Harry tensed in preparation to either dive to safety or push someone else out of harm's way, but when moments went by with nothing happening, he realised that something else seemed to be taking place…

"What's going on?" Ron asked, the other Rangers having joined the Reds and Megan in looking up at Wandemort. "Not that I'm complaining, but… why aren't we dead?"

"I think," Megan said, grinning as she pulled something out of her pocket, "it's because I took _this _out along with the Dark Zeo Crystal."

"You removed Wandemort's core?" Harry said, grinning at the sight of the reddish-orange feather in Megan's hands. "Megan, that's _brilliant_!"

"Uh… for the less magically-inclined people here, what does that mean?" Conner asked.

"Basically," Hermione said, looking over at Conner with a satisfied tone, "without that feather, Wandemort is just a big stick."

"And it's time to break that stick," Alan said, as a strange bracelet-like device appeared on his wrist. "Werewolf Battlezord! Power up!"

With that command, the large red zord appeared on the battlefield, the battered wolf-like zord shifting its appearance into its more human Battlewolf Megazord form.

"Go get him, mate!" Nate said, looking over at Alan in approval, only for Alan to shake his head and turn to look at Harry.

"Harry," he said solemnly, "from everything you've told us about Wandemort, I have a feeling this isn't something that I should take from you; if you want to destroy this thing, after everything that wand's done to you in your world, the battle is yours."

Harry's stunned silence at the offer- something about event he idea of letting someone else control the Red Lion felt wrong, so he had an idea of what it must be like for Alan to offer to let someone else control his zord- seemed to be all the response Alan needed, the Red Patronus Force Ranger handing Harry his wand. "Once you're inside, insert my wand into the slot beside the controls and you'll be able to control the Battlewolf Megazord."

Nodding in gratitude- the sooner he took this thing out, the better-, Harry took the wand and leapt into the air, entering the Battlewolf Megazord's control room. Inserting the wand into the indicated position, Harry quickly took control of the zord and began to advance towards Wandemort.

"YOU DIRTY MUDBLOOD!" Wandemort screeched, thrusting one arm out in a desperate attack that Harry easily parried. As the Battlewolf Megazord let out a savage howl, the machine leapt forward and sliced through Wandemort's body, the wood posing no real hindrance to the powerful zord.

As he watched Wandemort fall to the ground in a blaze of fire, Harry could only smile in satisfaction.

Wandemort was down, and this time, he _really _doubted that Voldemort would bother bringing him back.

The only question was if they'd manage to get home in time to stop Voldemort attempting something worse…


	56. Elysian Discoveries

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

The return to the Command Centre was a welcome opportunity to relax after the last fight; the Ranger helmets might be comfortable, but Harry couldn't quite get used to wearing them for long periods. Glancing over at his friends as they removed their helmets, Harry noted that thy all appeared to share his sense of exhaustion after the last fight; the Psychos had taken a lot out of them…

"WELCOME BACK, POWER RANGERS," Zordon said. "WORDS CANNOT PROPERLY EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE THAT EACH OF YOU HAVE ENDURED SUCH A DIFFICULT BATTLE AND MANAGED TO MAKE IT THROUGH SAFELY."

"We were lucky," Jason said, exchanging grim glances with Tommy. "The Psychos are dangerous enough in a one-on-one fight, but with the numerical advantage on a ground level we had a bit of an edge; they're stronger and more skilled than most of us, but with a numerical edge we had them on the ropes."

"Yeah, and speaking of strength, Psycho Red seemed a lot stronger than he was the last time I fought him," Alan put in, looking curiously up at Zordon. "Any ideas?"

"I AM WELL AWARE OF THE SUDDEN INCREASE IN THE POWER LEVELS OF IVAN'S PSYCHO RANGERS," Zordon explained with a grim tone. "AS YOU FOUGHT AGAINST THEM, I WAS ABLE TO EXECUTE A THOROUGH SCAN AND HAVE MADE A MOST… _DISTURBING _DISCOVERY."

"Which is?" Conner asked.

"IT APPEARS," Zordon explained, "THAT EACH PSYCHO RANGER HAS BEEN PHYSICALLY MERGED WITH A MAGICAL HUMAN OF EARTH ORIGIN WHICH SERVES TO PROVIDE THEM WITH AN UNLIMITED POWER SOURCE."

"You mean Ivan's somehow bonded the Psycho Rangers with _wizards_?" Jake asked. "But where would he have found wizards to do such a thing?"

"Uh… excuse me?" Ethan said, looking over at the Blue Patronus Force Ranger. "Last time I checked, he still had five wizards available to him that we hadn't worked out how to rescue yet; if he needs wizards, he already _had _them, remember?"

"Of _course_!" Alan said, snapping his fingers as he looked at Ethan with a slightly sheepish expression, clearly embarrassed that he hadn't made the connection first. "That explains why they didn't help the Psychos!"

"But… didn't Ivan only have five Dark Rangers?" Amanda asked. "Where did he get the sixth?"

"And more importantly," Ginny added grimly, "how do we separate them?"

"Yeah…" Ethan said, looking apprehensively up at Zordon. "You said last time that the Dark Rangers were falling under the influence of the Dark Wands; is it too late to save them?"

"IN ORDER TO HAVE MADE THIS MERGER," Zordon replied, "IVAN WOULD HAVE BEEN FORCED TO FREE THE DARK RANGERS HIMSELF OR ELSE RUN THE RISK OF LOSING CONTROL OVER THE PSYCHO RANGERS."

"You mean… he had to take away one source of power or increase the risk that they'd become too powerful and rebel against him?" Tommy asked.

"YOUR ASSESSMENT IS CORRECT, TOMMY," Zordon confirmed, nodding in approval at the longest-serving Ranger.

"So… our Harry isn't evil?" Elizabeth asked.

"And is now stuck serving as the Psychos' power source; mustn't forget _that _particular twist," Harry pointed out, shooting a brief glare at his 'sister'.

"INDEED," Zordon said. "ONLY THE SPEAR OF ELYSIA HAS THE POWER TO SEPARATE THEM FROM THE PSYCHO RANGERS AND EVEN THEN, THERE IS A CHANCE THAT THE SEPARATION PROCESS WILL PERMANENTLY DISABLE THEIR MAGICAL GENES, STRIPPING THEM OF THEIR POWERS FOREVER…"

"Let's worry about that once we've found the damn thing," Nathan said, huffing in irritation as he leaned against one of the consoles. "And in order to do _that_, Alan has to get in touch with his grandpa."

"For now, I'm not worrying about the Spear; Grandpa's been telling Amanda and I stories about that thing since we could walk and I highly doubt that he's going to clam up about it now," Alan said. "What I _am _worried about is that Orb of Doom. As long as Voldemort has possession of it, he poses a threat to not only our two worlds, but to an infinite number of others, as well."

"Don't," Harry said, looking briefly over at Alan. "If I know Voldemort- and trust me; if I know anything, I know Voldemort-, he would have used the Orb against us in a more effective manner than this if he could control it; the fact that he just sent us here makes it pretty clear that he doesn't actually know _what _he's doing with it and just wanted to get us out of the way."

"You're sure about that?" Alan asked.

"As Harry said, he knows Voldemort," Ginny said, looking over firmly at the Patronus Force Red Ranger. "If he believes that Voldemort won't do something, he won't do it."

"IN ANY CASE, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT OUR ALLIES CAN ATTEND TO WHEN THE TIME COMES," Zordon said. "FOR THE MOMENT, ALL THAT WE CAN DO IS ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE THE THREAT CURRENTLY POSED BY THE PSYCHO RANGERS; BILLY HAS DEVISED A SYSTEM THAT WILL WARN US IF VOLDEMORT SHOULD ATTEMPT TO ATTACK AGAIN."

"By the way, where _is _Billy?" Tommy asked curiously, looking uncertainly around the Command Centre.

"BILLY HAS BEEN SENT TO YOUR WORLD IN ORDER TO MAKE THE NECESSARY PREPARATIONS FOR YOUR RETURN HOME WHILE WE CONTINUE OUR OWN SEARCH FOR BOTH THE ZEO CRYSTAL AND THE SPEAR OF ELYSIA," Zordon explained.

"I've been thinking about where Ivan may have stashed the Zeo Crystal, Zordon," Alan said, stepping forward to address his mentor. "While we're waiting to get some idea as to the Spear's location, I can search Zedd's palace for the crystal."

"Uh… you're breaking into the enemy's main base?" Kira said, looking sceptically at Alan. "Isn't that a bit… risky?"

"I have Harry's Invisibility Cloak in my closet at home," Elizabeth offered, putting a consoling hand on Amanda's shoulder as she looked anxiously at her brother. "That should give him an edge or two-"

"Might not be enough," Harry said. "That cloak's useful, but I know from experience that all it takes is a couple of slip-ups for everyone up there to know that we've got someone inside…"

"Not if we've got more than one person in there," Trent put in. "If it's stealth that you need, Doctor O's Dino Gem gave him the power of invisibility, and I have my camouflage ability."

"Trent's right, Alan," Tommy confirmed. "If the Zeo Crystal is inside Zedd's fortress, then finding it will be faster with three of us looking for it."

"I'll get the Cloak!" Elizabeth said, powering down to civilian attire and teleporting away.

"VERY WELL," Zordon said, nodding in approval of the latest developments. "WHILE ALAN, TRENT, AND TOMMY CARRY OUT THEIR SEARCH FOR THE ZEO CRYSTAL, THE REST OF YOU MAY RETURN TO ANGEL GROVE FOR A MOST WELL-DESERVED MOMENT OF REST."

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to know more about this… Spear of Elysia," Hermione said, looking curiously at the Eltarian wizard. "I realize that it was created on another planet and was designed to permanently remove a wizard's powers, but with what you've said about it being able to separate our other selves from the Psycho Rangers… well, I have to ask; can it do other things, and how did it end up on Earth?"

"I AM ALSO CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT OTHER ABILITIES THE SPEAR MAY HAVE, HERMIONE," Zordon said, smiling briefly at her before he continued. "HOWEVER, THE CURRENT DATA ALPHA AND I HAVE MANAGED TO UNCOVER HAS FAILED TO REVEAL HOW ALAN'S FAMILY CAME TO BE THE SPEAR'S PROTECTORS. IF IT IS INDEED IN THEIR POSSESSION, I HAVE ONLY ONE POSSIBLE EXPLANATION."

"You think we're connected to the Elysians, right?" Amanda asked. "Or… that _we're _Elysian?"

"THAT IS MY THEORY, AMANDA," Zordon confirmed. "SINCE THE ELYSIAN PEOPLE WERE HUMANS THEMSELVES, IT IS A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY THAT YOUR FAMILY ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ELYSIAN REFUGEES WHO CAME TO START NEW LIVES HERE ON EARTH. HOWEVER, THE ONLY WAY TO BE CERTAIN IS FOR A BIOSCAN TO BE PERFORMED ON YOU BOTH, BUT SUBMITTING TO THE BIOSCAN MUST BE YOUR DECISION."

Looking over at the shocked expressions on Alan and Amanda's faces, Harry supposed that he could just about understand their apprehension; if it had been a shock for him to learn that he was a wizard, how much more of a shock would it be if you had evidence that you weren't even human?

"Amanda doesn't have to take the bioscan if she doesn't want to, Zordon," Alan said, looking up at the tube. "But if it helps shed some light on the spear and our family… I'll do it."

"I'll take the scan too," Amanda said, despite the nervousness in her voice.

"I COMMEND YOU BOTH FOR YOUR COURAGE," Zordon said, smiling at them before turning to Alpha. "ALPHA, PREPARE THE BIO-SCANNER. BE SURE TO SET IT TO SCAN ALAN AND AMANDA'S CELL STRUCTURE."

"Will do, Zordon!" Alpha answered, before he set to work.

* * *

"Man," Rocky said, staring at Billy's bag of equipment as they stood in the middle of the damaged Power Chamber, consoles already illuminated despite his friend's reliance on Earth tools, "how can that small bag carry all this stuff?"

"Amanda performed an Extension Charm on it," Billy explained, just as Rocky reached inside the bag and found himself pulling out the two large Molecular Decoders they had used to rescue Kimberly during that mess with the Shogunzords and the theft of the Pink Power Coin. "It allows me to carry at least twenty times the tools and equipment that it did before; it's kind of like carrying a miniature workshop over my shoulder."

"Nice," Rocky said, ignoring his thoughts on comparing it to a clown car with a strap- they were dealing with a dangerous situation and this wasn't the time to make jokes- as he pulled out a strange round ball with a keypad on it. "What's this thing?"

"A Reparo-Bomb," Billy replied as he took the object from Rocky.

"A what-bomb?" Rocky asked.

"Reparo-Bomb," Billy explained, holding the object up for Rocky's benefit. "Unlike regular bombs that destroy things when they explode, this has been charged with a spell that wizards use to repair things; as a result, when it explodes, the magical energies inside of it will spread out and repair everything that I can't fix by hand."

"Is that one of Amanda's inventions?" Rocky asked, curiously studying the 'bomb' as Billy handed it to him.

"Actually, it was her grandfather's," Billy replied. "He apparently runs a rather successful company that creates such inventions; incorporating spells with non-magical means to create a more… unorthodox result, if you will."

"Ah," Rocky said, nodding in understanding. "So… what now?"

"Now," Billy said, taking the device from Rocky, "with the preparations finished, I set this for ten seconds, we vacate the main chamber, and the bomb does its work unimpeded."

After tapping the relevant controls, Billy placed the bomb on the floor and activated the countdown before he and Rocky hurried to the door leading to the adjoining chamber. Almost as soon as the door had closed, a soft booming noise came from the other side of the door, followed by a strange sound that appeared to be a breeze before it died down.

"I guess we'd better see if we got the results we wanted," Billy said, smiling briefly at Rocky before he opened the door. On the other side of the door, the previously-damaged Power Chamber had returned to the state it had been in during Rocky's last few days as a Zeo Ranger- Alpha and Zordon had taken advantage of the peace following the damage Zedd had inflicted on the Machine Empire to reconfigure the chamber into a more efficient operating system-, the chamber sparkling like and all earlier damage repaired, ranging from the minor weapons fire damage to the restoration of the tube that had once held Zordon.

"Whoa…" Rocky said, looking at the room in surprise.

"Most prodigious," Billy said, smiling as he studied the chamber before looking back at Billy. "Now then, all we have to do is charge up the energy tube and send that signal to Dimitria, and we can get on with getting your Zeo Crystal back together."

* * *

"There!" Alpha said, looking at the other Rangers in satisfaction as he stepped away from the Bio-Scanner. "I've completed the alterations; we're ready to begin."

"ALAN, AMANDA," Zordon said, turning to where the two Ranger siblings were standing, Elizabeth standing alongside them holding the newly-retrieved Invisibility Cloak. "IN ORDER TO ENSURE A FULL GENETIC SCAN, EACH OF YOU WILL BE ENCASED WITHIN A FORCE FIELD FOR AN ESTIMATED TWENTY SECONDS. DURING THAT TIME, THE BIO-SCANNER WILL TAKE A READING OF YOUR GENETIC CELL STRUCTURE AS WELL AS YOUR PERSONAL POWER LEVELS. BEFORE WE BEGIN, I WANT TO REASSURE YOU THAT NEITHER OF YOU WILL FEEL ANY PAIN OR DISCOMFORT."

"We trust you, Zordon," Alan said, giving Amanda's shoulder a comforting squeeze to dispel any nervousness. "We're just... a little scared of the results."

"You shouldn't be," Jason put in, looking over at the Patronus Force Rangers. "We've had a diverse range of Rangers over the years, and not all of them were human; the fact that you might not be isn't going to change the fact that you're our friends."

"Jason's right, Alan," Elizabeth said, wrapping an arm around Alan's waist with a smile. "No matter what the results of the scan are, I'll _still _be here."

"We all will," Nathan said firmly. "Whether you're from Mars or Earth, you're still my best friend."

"You can count on my support," Jake added.

"Personally," Megan put in, "I think it'd be way to cool to find out that Sean and I got adopted by a family of extraterrestrials."

"Well, this family's _always _been weird, and my sister's the weirdest," Sean said with a grin, prompting a slap on the back of the head from the sister in question.

Chuckling slightly at their reassurance, Alan smiled at the others before turning back to the tube. "I think Amanda and I are ready to get this show on the road, Zordon."

"VERY WELL," Zordon said. "PLEASE STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CHAMBER AND ALPHA WILL ACTIVATE THE FORCE FIELDS."

As the other Rangers moved out of the way to the edges of the chamber, Alan and Amanda moved to the centre of the floor area, standing side-by-side as Alpha worked at the central terminal for a few more moments.

"Are you ready?" the robot asked, looking back at the Rangers.

"As I'll ever be, I guess," Amanda said.

"Ready, Alpha," Alan nodded. "Let's do this."

With an understanding nod, Alpha turned back to the console, Alan and Amanda being promptly covered by the electric force fields normally used to imprison intruders. As they stood still, the other Rangers could only watch as the force fields pulsed slightly while the scans were carried out, until the scans concluded and the force fields vanished.

"That wasn't too bad," Amanda said, stretching slightly as she and Alan walked over to the console where Alpha was standing.

"What are the scan results, Alpha?" Alan asked, as the relevant information appeared on a screen above Alpha's console.

"It would appear that our theory was indeed correct, Rangers," Alpha answered. "The scans show that each of your cell structures are a 63 percent match to those of an Elysian!"

"THIS WOULD EXPLAIN THE ODD READINGS THAT I HAVE BEEN DETECTING FROM YOUR WANDS SINCE YOU FIRST BECAME POWER RANGERS," Zordon said, gazing thoughtfully at the two Rangers. "TELL ME, WHERE DID YOU RECEIVE YOUR WANDS?"

"Family's personal wandmaker," Alan said, prompting a surprised stare from Ron and Ginny at that news; Harry knew that wand-making was a complicated craft, but the idea that a wandmaker would be dedicated to serving a particular family…

"You mean… you've never had wands made by a professional?" Hermione asked. "I mean, a _public _professional?"

"No," Alan said, looking thoughtfully back at her. "It's just… the way it's always been."

"AND WITH GOOD REASON," Zordon said. "ALAN, WHILE I REALIZE THAT ASK OF YOU WILL SEEM MOST OUTLANDISH, ASSURE YOU THAT I WOULD NOT DO SO WITHOUT AN EXCELLENT REASON FOR DOING SO. I MUST ASK YOU TO SNAP YOUR OWN WAND."

Looking back, Harry was never sure what surprised him more; how casually Alan reacted to that request/demand, or the fact that, when he obeyed the order, the other Red Ranger revealed something inside the wood of the wand itself, appearing to be a wand made of metal in a silvery-blue colour, Amanda possessing the same.

"What kind of wands are these?" Amanda asked, looking curiously at what was apparently her wand's true appearance.

"THOSE ARE YOUR ADAPTER WANDS," Zordon explained. "WHILE ELYSIAN WIZARDS ARE AS HUMAN AS EARTH WIZARDS, THEIR RAW POWERS WERE FAR TOO VAST TO ALLOW THEM THE USE OF TERRAN WANDS. IN ORDER TO BLEND IN WITH THEIR NEW HOME, THE ELYSIANS WERE FORCED TO USE THEIR TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE IN ORDER TO CREATE WANDS THAT WERE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO WITHSTAND ELYSIAN MAGIC."

"Ah," Hermione said, nodding in understanding.

"AND," Zordon continued with a smile, "NOW THAT THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR FAMILY'S ORIGINS HAS BEEN REVEALED, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF ELYSIAN ARTIFACTS SEALED AWAY INSIDE THE COMMAND CENTER'S ARCHIVES, WHICH I WILL NOW PASS INTO YOUR CARE SO THAT YOU MAY LEARN OF THE GREAT LEGACY OF YOUR ANCESTORS. FOR YOUR PRESENT MISSION, I BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL FIND THIS FAR MORE APPROPRIATE."

In a flash of light, a silver ring with a clear crystal in the centre appeared around Alan's finger.

"What's this?" Alan asked, looking at it curiously.

"JUST AS WITH THE CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY, THE POWER OF THAT ELYSIAN STEALTH RING WILL RENDER YOU COMPLETELY INVISIBLE," Zordon explained. "I AM SURE THAT YOU WILL FIND IT A FAR MORE EFFECTIVE AND LESS TROUBLESOME TOOL THAN THE CLOAK. IN ORDER TO ACTIVATE IT, SIMPLY PASS YOUR WAND OVER THE CRYSTAL."

"_Nice_…" Ron said, nodding in approval at the other wizard.

"I agree," Alan said, grinning as he looked at the ring before looking over at Tommy and Trent. "Well, guys, let's go see if we can find ourselves a certain crystal!"

"Not so fast, Alan!" Elizabeth said, draping the Invisibility Cloak over her shoulders before her body vanished. "I think that four can cover more ground than three, so I'm going with you."

Harry didn't bother protesting; he might resent his team being left behind, but in a situation like this, having four people who knew how to work with at least one other person there would probably be smarter than just sending four people up there.

"GOOD LUCK, RANGERS," Zordon said, nodding at the four Rangers as they moved into position in the centre of the chamber before being teleported up to their enemy's fortress.


	57. Elysian Legacies

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: To anyone who just read the last chapter when it was updated, go back and re-read it; I made a few additions to the end based on Lamb's contribution (I uploaded it when I thought he was finished)

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

When she detected activity in the remains of the Power Chamber, it didn't take Dimitria long to attempt to return to the tube that had been her means of communicating with Earth for the better part of a year; she doubted that anything evil would attempt to restore the Chamber, and it might provide her with the clue she needed as to the whereabouts of the Hogwarts Guardians.

For a moment after she materialised in the tube, she wondered what had happened here- the Command Centre was fully restored to its original state, and she hadn't detected any sign that another Eltarian had come to Earth-, but then her eyes fell on the two people standing in it.

"Billy Cranston and Rocky DeSantos?" she said, looking curiously at the two former Blue Rangers who had left before her arrival on Earth. "What are you doing here?"

"Dimitria, right?" Rocky asked, looking up at the chamber with a solemn expression. "It's… well, it's good to meet you at last."

"The sentiment is returned," Dimitria said, before she looked curiously at the two. "Why are you here?"

"Well…" Billy said, looking awkwardly at her. "To begin at the beginning, I'm not the Billy Cranston of this world; I'm from the reality where the Hogwarts Guardians were sent during their last fight with Voldemort."

"Really?" Dimitria said, looking at him in surprise.

"Hey, I didn't believe it either," Rocky said, looking at her with shrug. "Still, considering that the real Billy's on Aquitar and has no reason to be here, coupled with how much he knows about Jason's team, the story makes sense."

"I… see," Dimitria said, before she looked at Billy. "What is your purpose here?"

"We've worked out a means of sending the Hogwarts Guardians and the Dino Thunder Rangers back home, but with their zords needing to come through as well, we need the additional power of the Zeo Crystal to make a portal large enough for them," Billy explained. "Rocky's agreed to lend me his fragment, and Tommy told me where he keeps his part of the crystal, but we still need to make contact with the rest of the Zeo Rangers…"

"So you reactivated the Power Chamber so that I would be available to assist you," Dimitria concluded, nodding in understanding at Rocky and Billy. "Very well; I will do what I can to make contact with the other three."

"Thanks," Rocky said, grinning gratefully at her before turning his attention back to the consoles around them. "Should be all right if we can get the teleport network back up…"

* * *

As he reappeared in Zedd's fortress, Tommy tried not to think about the obvious unpleasant connotations that were inspired by this place; it might not be the exact palace where he had spent time with Rita and her monsters during his early days as the Green Ranger, but it was close enough to make no difference…

"What's the plan?" Elizabeth asked Alan, after the four of them had confirmed that there was nothing around them to suggest that they had been detected.

"Well…" Alan said, shrugging awkwardly as he looked at the others, "I didn't exactly plan this excursion, but since all of us have some method of concealment, I'm thinking that this will go quicker if we split into two teams; Doctor Oliver and I can search one floor while you and Trent take the next one, and we'll regroup on the upper floors and go from there."

"Good call," Tommy said, nodding in approval. "We have magical back-up, and you have us; it allows us to draw on our respective strengths."

"Makes sense," Elizabeth said, pushing her hair back into a ponytail.

"OK," Alan said. "Let's…"

The Red Ranger's voice trailed off at the sound of approaching footsteps, along with an off-key tune. Exchanging glances, Trent and Tommy activated their respective powers while Elizabeth threw the invisibility cloak over herself, Alan activating the ring Zordon had given him as he faded from view himself. As the Rangers watched in silence, the pig-like mutant that the Patronus Force and Zordon had earlier described as Mordant emerged, humming a tune as he walked. Before Tommy could decide what to do, Alan reappeared, standing behind Mordant in a nonchalant manner.

"Hello, Mordant," Alan said, prompting the pig-creature to turn and scream in shock.

"Red Ranger?" Mordant said incredulously. "W-what are you- _Urk_!" he continued, his sentence interrupted as Alan slammed the mutant into the wall behind him, his hands tightening around Mordant's throat in a malicious manner that put Tommy uncomfortably in mind of his own attitude when he'd originally become the Green Ranger…

"Wha... what do you want with me?" Mordant wheezed out, looking at the Red Ranger in obvious panic. "Please, don't hurt me!"

"If you want to walk away in one piece, Mordant, you'll tell me what I want to know," Alan said, his voice making it clear that he was uninterested in games. "Where is Ivan keeping the Zeo Crystal?"

"In… in his lab!" Mordant said. "In the chamber where Zedd keeps Serpentera!"

"And where is the hanger?" Alan asked.

"That way!" Mordant yelled, frantically gesturing towards the end of the hallway. "Stairs at the end will take you right there!"

"If you're lying to me, Mordant," Alan said, tightening his grip as he brought Mordant's face up close to his own, "you'll find yourself being turned into pork barbeque."

Tommy wasn't sure how he felt about a Ranger making that kind of threat, but the issue became academic as Alan drew his wand and hit Mordant with a red spell that he recognised as a stunner, sending the adversary to the ground unconscious.

"Alan," Elizabeth said as she removed the cloak, "that wasn't being very subtle."

"To say nothing of it being a bit extreme," Tommy said, looking pointedly at Alan. "I have nothing against defeating them in a fight, but causing that kind of damage outside of a fight…"

"Tell me about it; that's the first time I've ever felt sorry for the _bad guys_!" Trent said. "I mean, you'd freak out _Batman _with that act!"

"Look," Alan said with a shrug, "I just think that the sooner we find the Zeo Crystal, the sooner we put an end to whatever plan Ivan has for it and the sooner we can get you guys home!"

"We're not saying we don't appreciate the help," Tommy said, looking firmly at Alan. "I'm just saying that you need to draw a line between what you will and won't do, or it becomes too easy to justify doing anything to get the job done."

"Right…" Alan said, looking grimly at Tommy for a moment before he indicated the corridor behind him. "C'mon, let's get going."

With nothing else to be said, the four began to run along the corridor towards the indicated hanger.

* * *

"Blimey!" Ron said as he stared at the row of Elysian artefacts that Zordon had teleported into the Command Centre's main chamber for Amanda. "Look at all this stuff!"

"Yeah…" Jason said, looking thoughtfully at an Elysian battle sword in his hand, giving it a few experimental swings. "Good weight, but I'm guessing it's more than just a sword…"

"Everything is," Ron said, picking up a cold-coloured tiara with rune-like writing on it from the chest that Amanda had just opened and placing it on Hermione's head. "Here you go."

"Nice!" Hermione said, grinning as she stared at her reflection in the inactive Viewing Globe. "I look like a royal!"

"Actually," Alpha said, glancing up from his and Amanda's work, "that is a servant girl's tiara."

"Hold on; a _servant _wore this?" Hermione said, removing the tiara and looking at it in new uncertainty.

"Just to check, are we talking servant or slave here?" Harry asked, looking up at Zordon. "I don't know about the local Hermione, but ours… well, she gets very passionate about that kind of thing."

"THE ELYSIANS DID NOT BELIEVE IN SLAVERY, HERMIONE," Zordon explained. "ON ELYSIA, ONE HAD TO VOLUNTEER TO BE A SERVANT TO ANY PARTICULAR FAMILY."

"So… the tiara indicates that the wearer was a butler or something like that?" Conner asked. "You know, they get the job and can leave whenever they want?"

"PRECISELY," Zordon confirmed. "THE MARKINGS ON THE TIARA INDICATE THAT IT WAS ONCE WORN BY A MEMBER OF PRINCESS ZARA'S PERSONAL PALACE GUARD, THE SAME INDIVIDUAL WHO ONCE OWNED THE SWORD THAT JASON IS HOLDING. ONLY THE MOST SKILLED FEMALE FIGHTERS WERE ALLOWED SUCH A COVETED POSITION."

"This was a woman's sword?" Jason said, looking up at Zordon in surprise as he looked back at the blade. "Well, that'd explain why it's so light…"

"What are these?" Amanda asked, opening another chest containing various amulets, all with a strange black crystal in their centres.

"THOSE ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTING EXAMPLES OF ELYSIAN MAGIC," Zordon said, a slight smile on his face as he spoke. "BEING RAISED AMONG EARTH'S MAGICAL POPULATION, I AM CERTAIN THAT YOU ARE AWARE OF WHAT AN ANIMAGUS IS."

"Those are the wizards that can turn into animals, right?" Sylvia asked. "Harry mentioned he knew a guy who turned into a dog?"

"PRECISELY," Zordon explained. "THAT AMULET IN YOUR POSSESSION ACTS AS A DATABASE CONTAINING THE FORMS OF A GREAT NUMBER OF ANIMALS, EXPANDING THE OWER OF THE TRADITIONAL ANIMAGUS TRANSFORMATION SO THAT ITS USER MAY ASSUME THE FORM OF ANY ANIMAL AT WILL, RATHER THAN BEING RESTRICTED TO A SPECIFIC FORM."

"Really?" Ginny said, picking up one of the dark amulets to examine it more closely. "Wow…"

"INDEED, GINNY," Zordon replied, a slight smile on his face. "SINCE I BELIEVE THAT THE AMULET'S POWER IS SAFE ENOUGH FOR A TERRAN MAGICAL TO MAKE USE OF, I WILL ALLOW YOU TO EXPERIMENT WITH IT. HOWEVER, I MUST ASK THAT YOU LIMIT YOURSELF TO ANIMALS SMALL ENOUGH TO FIT INSIDE THE COMMAND CENTER."

With an excited smile, Ginny pulled the amulet over her head, closing her eyes and waiting for a moment as the amulet began to glow, the other Rangers watching in silence, unwilling to break the atmosphere that had settled over them, until Ginny opened her eyes and transformed into a large auburn-coloured horse.

"Whoa…" Conner said, looking at the horse in amazement.

"Well?" the horse said, turning to look at Harry. "What do you think?"

"Well- huh?" Harry said, looking at Ginny in shock.

"Wait a minute!" Ron said, looking at the horse in shock. "You just turned into a horse, and you can still _talk_?"

"WHILE GINNY'S BODY HAS ASSUMED THE FORM OF AN ANIMAL, SHE STILL RETAINS HER HUMAN MIND AND ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE," Zordon explained.

"Brilliant!" Harry said, grinning as he looked at her. "Try another form!"

Ginny stood silently for a moment before her body seemed to shimmer, transforming from a horse to a hippogriff, before resuming her human form.

"This is _too _cool!" Ginny said, grinning at the amulet as she took it off her neck.

"Why not keep it?" Amanda said, grinning at the Green Guardian Ranger, before she reached into the chest and pulled out a few other amulets. "Actually, here's one for each of you; consider them our thanks for your help."

"ONLY FOUR AMULETS CAN BE PROVIDED," Zordon said, looking apologetically at the two muggle Guardian Rangers. "JASON, SYLVIA, I AM AFRAID THAT THE AMULETS WERE DESIGNED TO BE USED BY A MAGICAL HUMAN; SHOULD YOU ATTEMPT TO USE THOSE AMULETS, THEY COULD BE SERIOUSLY INJURED OR WORSE."

"Nuts," Sylvia said, looking at the amulets with a sulking expression. "I was really looking forward to seeing what an eagle felt like…"

"Don't worry about it," Jason said, noting Amanda's dejected expression. "You've already given us more than we could have asked for by giving us somewhere to stay while helping us get home; that's more important than any number of magical artefacts."

"To say nothing og getting a better idea of what our Ranger powers are capable of," Harry added.

"Which reminds me," Hermione said, a thoughtful expression on her face, "I had an idea about our Guardian Gems…"

The alarms blared before the Blue Guardian Ranger could finish her sentence, prompting the Rangers to look anxiously at each other.

"What's happening, Zordon?" Jake asked.

"RANGERS!" Zordon said urgently. "THERE IS A DISTURBANCE IN ANGEL GROVE PARK! PLEASE OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE!"

As the assorted Rangers moved into position, the Viewing Globe activated, revealing a park where a large crowd were running from something. Harry was about to ask what they were running from when it became obvious, as a small army of floating figures in black robes appeared in the air.

"_Dementors_!" Nathan yelled in shock. "What the hell are Dementors doing in Angel Grove?"

"And how are they visible?" Hermione asked, focusing on the immediate question. "I thought Dementors were invisible to muggles?"

"WHILE THOSE ARE VITAL QUESTIONS, THEY ARE ISSUES THAT MUST BE DEALT WITH LATER," Zordon said. "THERE IS NO TIME TO DWELL ON THIS ISSUE; WE MUST FOCUS ON ELIMINATING THE IMMEDIATE THREAT. ALPHA, YOU MUST HURRY AND GET THE SECOND CHEST OPEN. IF IT CONTAINS WHAT I BELIEVE IT DOES, JASON, SYLVIA, AND THE DINO THUNDER RANGERS WILL BE NEEDING THEM!"

"Aye-yi-yi!" Alpha said, moving to the chest in question. "What's in here, Zordon?"

"BEFORE THEY LANDED ON EARTH, THE ELYSIANS TOOK THE TIME TO STUDY AND CREATE DEFENSES AGAINST THE VARIOUS DANGERS FOUND AMONG EARTH'S MAGICAL POPULATION. IF THE ITEMS WITHIN THAT CHEST ARE WHAT I BELIEVE THEM TO BE, THEY CAN BE USED BY NON-MAGICALS AGAINST THE DEMENTORS," Zordon explained, before returning his attention to the other Rangers. "UNTIL ALPHA CAN OPEN THE CHEST, I'M AFRAID THAT ONLY THE PATRONUS FORCE AND THE MAGICAL MEMBERS OF THE HOGWARTS GUARDIANS ARE CAPABLE OF FACING THIS THREAT."

"But Alan and Elizabeth aren't back yet!" Sean protested.

"Look, we don't have time to wait until we're back at full strength; we've already got a surplus of Rangers available by most conventional standards, we need to just get out there and stop these bastards _now_," Harry said, glaring firmly at his allies.

"Harry's right," Amanda said grimly. "Those people can't wait! _It's Morphin' Time_!"

* * *

Looking up at the long-destroyed form of Serpentera standing in the hanger, intact and returned to its original size, Tommy couldn't help but wince at the sight; even after Cole had destroyed his world's version during their last fight, he still had nightmares about what might have happened if the Red Wild Force Ranger hadn't taken action.

"Now _that _is a damned big Zord!" Alan said, looking up at the object in awe.

"God…" Elizabeth whispered. "I am _so _happy we haven't had to face that thing…"

"Yeah, well, it just reflects Zedd's problem," Tommy said with a shrug. "He was so focused on going big that Serpentera wasn't able to stay running long enough to be a serious threat; once we got Tor in for protection, it was easy.

"Wasn't there something in your records about someone rebuilding Serpentera after Zedd's death?" Trent asked, looking curiously at his mentor.

"Yeah, the Machine Empire took out most of the surplus components and focused more on something with the same nigh-on-indestructible armour with a better power core," Tommy explained.

"Huh," Alan said, looking curiously at the older Ranger. "What happened to that?"

"The Red Wild Force Ranger blew it up," Tommy said. "Serpentera was pretty tough, but Cole had a personal mini-zord given to him by an ancient god, the power core they were using was in the right place to get hit by his weapons when he fired in the right place… things fell into place."

"Ah," Alan said, looking up at the monstrous zord.

"Come on," Tommy said, looking back at the hanger. "Let's get moving and find the Zeo Crystal; Mordant said that Ivan's lab was around here somewhere."

"That's if he was telling the truth," Trent added grimly.

"I'm pretty sure he was," Elizabeth noted. "Mordant may be related to Goldar, but he's always been the coward of the bunch."

"Hold on; Mordant's related to _Goldar_?" Tommy said, looking at Alan and Elizabeth in disbelief.

"They're distant cousins or something; I heard it mentioned once, but it didn't seem worth asking about," Alan said, shrugging dismissively as they continued to walk through the hanger. After a few more minutes of silent exploration, Tommy held up his hand to halt their progress and hide behind what looked like a large energy charger, the serious expression on his face quieting any thoughts of asking questions. Glancing around the corner, it didn't take long for the other Rangers to see a pair of Putties carrying a large piece of equipment into a tunnel on the opposite end of the hanger.

"The lab Mordant mentioned?" Trent asked.

"Most likely," Alan said, grinning as he watched the Putties disappear into the tunnel entrance. "Well, at least that makes our job easier."

"As easy as it can be to steal something that Ivan's got to keeping a close eye on," Elizabeth pointed out.

"She's right," Tommy said grimly. "If Ivan's seen Jason's memories, he knows what the Zeo Crystal can do; even if Jason didn't see everything we told him about, he knows enough to know that he'd have to be an idiot to make it easy for us to take it back."

"Well, nothing worthwhile's ever easy," Alan said, taking a deep breath as he looked at the tunnel entrance before them, and the open floor between them and it. "I'll go first; keep your eyes peeled."

Without waiting for a response, the local Red Ranger ran as fast as he could across the hanger, soon reaching the tunnel entrance and flattening himself against the nearest wall. Glancing around the corner into the tunnel, Alan turned back and waved them across, clearly satisfied that there was no immediate danger, waiting as the other three ran across the hanger to join him.

"Everyone ready?" Tommy asked, as he activated his Dino Gem's power while Trent faded into the wall behind him.

"Let's do it!" Elizabeth smiled, donning her Invisibility Cloak while Alan activated his Stealth Ring.

"Go in five second intervals; should be enough to keep us running into each other," Tommy interjected; he was used to being the only invisible person in his group, but there was nothing wrong with being prepared. "Alan, you go first."

As Alan confirmed his acknowledgement of the request and hurried down the tunnel, Tommy could only hope they'd manage to pull this off; reacquiring the Zeo Crystal was important, but Ivan Ooze clearly wasn't someone they could afford to underestimate…


	58. Duelling with Dementors

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: A couple of theories regarding the Zeo powers and the shift to Turbo here- both my own theory and inspired by others- that I hope will meet with the approval of the readers

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Looking reflectively at the black morpher in his hands, another day at the dojo over, Adam Park wondered why this particular power source still held such a sense of fascination for him.

Sure, it was the colour he'd used when he'd started out, but it had been Zack's morpher first and foremost; the lack of attachment to Green Turbo he could understand, considering how Carlos had a greater bond to that identity as his Ranger debut, but surely he should feel more attached to Green Zeo as his only 'unique' Ranger identity…

In the end, however, he knew why that was; it was the same reason the Zeo Rangers had all accepted the transfer to Turbo.

For all that the Zeo powers had been powerful, there were times when the Rangers had felt that those powers were _too _powerful; considering what the Crystal had been capable of when intact, the Zeo Rangers had always been somewhat unnerved by what they could have done with that power.

They'd needed the Zeo powers in the fight against the Machine Empire, but with their threat dealt with and Dimitria operating at a lower level with fewer resources to draw on, the shift to Turbo had been met with few objections; Billy's legacy had done its work, and the new powers were still pretty effective even if they lacked the raw power of their predecessors.

That, more than anything, was the reason he wasn't comfortable with the Green Zeo power; without a credible threat active at the moment, the potential of the Zeo powers to corrupt might not be great, but it was still greater than any of them were comfortable with…

Still, even with their Ranger career long over, he was still somewhat surprised that everything had worked out so well after they handed over their powers; he and Rocky might officially be 'business rivals' these days- and Rocky actually had a slight edge in that he had Jason available as a second instructor for his dojo where Adam was mostly on his own-, but they maintained a close friendship regardless. As for the others, Tanya and Kat remained friends despite their different careers- Kat was apparently lauded for her ballet performances and Tanya's singing career continued to deliver strong performances, even if it meant that she was away a lot-, Tommy had been making more regular contact with them ever since his return to the fold last year…

"_Hello, Adam_," a voice suddenly said from Adam's long-inactivate communicator- they all still kept them within reach, just in case a situation arose that needed their attention, but they hadn't had to use them for years-, prompting a moment's confusion from Adam before he recognised the voice.

"Dimitria?" he said, activating the communicator in surprise after taking a quick glance around to confirm that nobody was in the dojo who shouldn't be. "What are you doing here?"

"_I need your assistance_," Dimitria explained. "_I am located at the old command centre; if you come to me, I will explain everything_."

"On my way," Adam said at once; no matter how long it had been since his days as an active Ranger, you couldn't ignore the call when it came. Standing up, he pressed the relevant control on his communicator- no sense in not checking the obvious option first-, felt the familiar energy surround him…

* * *

Adam wasn't sure what shocked him more when he reached his destination; the fact that the command centre was intact, or that Billy was standing there alongside Rocky.

"_Billy_?" he said, looking at his old teammate with a broad grin; he saw Rocky fairly regularly but the first Blue Ranger was another matter. "You're back?"

"Not… exactly," Billy said, looking at Adam with a surprisingly awkward manner. "I'm… well, I'm not the Billy you know."

"Huh?" Adam said, looking at Rocky for answers.

"OK, long story short, this Billy's from some kind of alternate universe where things worked out differently and he's here to ask for our help in getting Tommy and Jason's new teams back home," Rocky explained.

"_Jason _has a new team?" Adam said, suddenly wondering how many more secrets he'd have to deal with; he knew that he should probably be more concerned about the idea of this Billy being from an alternate universe, but it was just easier to focus on one unusual turn of events at a time.

"Yeah, he's the White Ranger of that team that's going around the country; you've seen the news, right?" Rocky asked, looking promptingly at his old friend.

"Yeah, I noticed it; just… didn't think much about it, I guess," Adam said, shrugging awkwardly at the personal revelation. It wasn't that he hadn't been interested in learning about there being a new team of Rangers out there, but the odds of them coming somewhere where he'd meet them had seemed so slim, and there was such a limited amount of information about them, that he hadn't really bothered to try and find out anything else…

"So," he said, looking curiously at Rocky, "what can we do to help Tommy?"

"We need to re-assemble the Zeo Crystal at our end so that Billy's home universe can use their Zeo Crystal to open a portal big enough to let Tommy, Jason, their teammates, and their zords come back to this world," Rocky explained. "We've recovered Tommy's crystal already, and I've got mine, but we still need the other three, and… well…"

"Gotcha," Adam said, nodding reassuringly at Rocky; the retired Blue Zeo Ranger had always felt slightly awkward talking with Tanya and Kat ever since he'd left the Ranger business, so it was only natural that he'd touch base with Adam first. "I'll try and get them here soon."

* * *

Conner hated to sound ungrateful, but he was starting to become sick of this whole mess.

Sure, working with wizards and witches was cool, to say nothing of the chance to fight alongside the _original _Red Ranger, but they'd been stuck in this reality for too long as far as he was concerned; he didn't even want to think about how their families were coping with their absence back home, to say nothing of the kind of strings they'd need to pull for their new jobs to let them off for being away this long…

Add in the fact that he was now looking at a group of catatonic men and women surrounded by floating figures in black cloaks, the cloaked figures positioned in a manner that suggested that they were prepared for some kind of assault, spread out in the kind of numbers that Conner didn't need his Ranger training to know would be bad news.

"There sure are a lot of them..." Conner heard Sean mutter, glancing over to note that the male Green Ranger seemed to be looking apprehensively at the things before him (The helmet naturally made it hard to be certain).

"OK, so we're outnumbered; when are we not?" Conner said, trying to sound optimistic- he knew that these things were probably more dangerous than the average hench-creature, but he couldn't focus on the negatives all the time- before he looked over at Harry. "Any recommendations for dealing with these things?"

"Don't let them kiss you," Harry said grimly.

"Kiss us?" Ethan repeated in confusion. "Why would we want them to?"

"You don't," Hermione said, a harsh edge to her voice that Conner hadn't heard from the female Blue Ranger before. "If they get in close enough to you, the Dementors can suck the soul from your body."

"Oh" Kira said, her tone grim enough to make it clear that she understood enough of that explanation to know that she didn't want to find out more.

"Look, can we just… think about this, OK?" Sean said, looking anxiously at his teammates as the robed figures continued to float menacingly before them. "We might have a spell to stop them, but how long are we going to last against something like this, even with our Ranger powers giving our magic a boost?"

"And that's _without _us having to worry about _you _-" Jake began, turning to look at the Dino Thunder Rangers.

"People are in danger and we didn't have time to wait for that chest to open up," Jason said, looking firmly at the local team's Blue Ranger, his tone making it clear that he would accept no argument. "If you think that Rangers run and hide when people are in danger, regardless of the state their powers are in, you have no business using these powers."

"OK, enough talk; let's _do _this!" Sylvia yelled, drawing her Guardian Blade and charging towards the Dementors, the rest of the Rangers close behind her. As the Hogwarts Guardians focused on various charms and the occasional Patronus Charm, the Patronus Force quickly resorted to more physical methods, Amanda flipping into the air and kicking the nearest Dementor, causing the creature to let out a shriek of pain as it flew backwards into his fellows.

It didn't take long for the Rangers familiar with the experience to note that the Dementors appeared to be having a more limited effect on them compared to what they could be capable of; the other Rangers couldn't do more than hold them off, but, as Hermione and Amanda had theorised earlier, the Patronus Force were capable of more direct methods of assault thanks to their powers being drawn from the personification of their Patronuses. Nate in particular clearly enjoyed the opportunity to tear into the Dementors with his bare hands, slamming the creatures into the ground, while the other Patronus Force Rangers tore into the creatures with their weapons. Harry thought he saw small glowing objects drifting from the Dementors after they were struck, but this wasn't time to analyse that; he'd give it more consideration when the immediate threat was dealt with.

"Great…" Ron groaned, ducking under the swipe of a dementor's claws- they might not pose much of a physical threat normally, but that evidently didn't apply here- before slashing out with his Guardian Blade. "We get an edge, and it's _still _not enough…"

"_Focus_, Ron!" Harry yelled over at his friend; he could feel the edge of despair that he always felt when dementors were present, but it seemed like the gems were providing enough protection for him to focus past the worst of it even if their powers weren't as effective against their adversaries as the Patronus Force's were. "We can still win this; you just have to _concentrate_!"

"There's too many of them!" Hermione yelled, shooting out a few quick spells that knocked the dementors off-balance without doing any immediate harm; she didn't have the time to concentrate on a patronus right now. "We need to hit them harder!"

"Let us try something!" Kira called out, landing back on the ground after a brief aerial assault that knocked the higher-up dementors back to the ground but hadn't affected them much otherwise.

"Gotcha; let's do this!" Conner said, beckoning the other Dino Thunder Rangers over. Pulling out his Tyranno Staff as Kira and Ethan drew their own weapons, Conner brought the three weapons together to create the Z-Rex Blaster, aiming and firing it at the largest concentration of Dementors before they could move away. It was hard to be certain what kind of damage the attack actually inflicted, with the Dementors' robes being damaged but little sign of their forms underneath the robes, but considering that the creatures within the immediate blast radius fell to the ground and didn't get back up, it seemed like it would be enough.

"Nice job, Conner!" Harry said, looking over at his fellow Red with a smile before looking at his original three teammates. "OK, guys; let's bring them together!"

"Right!" the three magical Hogwarts Guardians said, taking up position around Harry as they aimed their Guardian Blades at the Dementors, yelling out the spell as they did so. For a moment, their four golden Patronuses emerged from the wands, followed by the figures coming together in a burst of golden light that resembled the Hogwarts Guardian Megazord. The Patronus version of the Guardian Megazord rapidly charged through the Dementors, slashing away at them with its blade before any of them could even move to safety, tearing through the robes of the downed Dementors like they were nothing before it faded away, leaving various Dementors in a state that was probably as close to death as they could come.

"_Nice_," Nate said, grinning in approval as he charged into the largest nearby group of dementors, his brute force approach proving particularly effective given the nature of his powers. The dementors might keep on coming back after they were knocked down, but each time it took them even longer to get back to their feet than it had before.

"Hey, Dino-Guys!" Sylvia called over to the Dino Thunder Rangers as she vaulted over another Dementor's attempt to grab her, simultaneously kicking it back to the ground. "Nice move earlier; any chance you could do that again?"

"Z-Rex blaster's typically the last resort weapon; we only brought it out this early because we thought it might do more damage than that!" Ethan called over to the female Black Ranger. "If Trent and Doctor O. get back, maybe, but right now it's too drained to do anything useful!"

"Can we _ever _get a break?" Harry asked, an attempt to stab a dementor with his Guardian Blade having only limited results. "We already had enough trouble stopping _one _uber-Dementor back home, and now we've got to deal with all of _these _guys?"

"_RANGERS_," Zordon's voice suddenly said over the communicators. "_ALPHA AND I HAVE MANAGED TO OPEN THE CHEST, AND HAVE RECOVERED SOME ITEMS THAT MAY BE OF USE_."

Before any of the Rangers could respond to that announcement, there was a brief, sudden glow, and the non-magical Rangers found themselves holding strange handgun-shaped weapons.

"What the-?" Sylvia asked, looking at the new gun in confusion.

"_YOU ARE HOLDING ELYSIAN ION PISTOLS_," Zordon explained, the magical Rangers taking point as they struck at the dementors to give their newly-armed allies time to learn what they were now holding. "_WHEN A MAGICAL BEING IS SHOT BY ONE OF THESE WEAPONS, THE ION PARTICLES CAUSE A CHAIN REACTION WHICH CAUSES THE TARGET'S OWN ENERGIES TO BECOME UNSTABLE TO THE POINT THAT THEY DESTROY THE TARGET. CONSIDERING THE SEVERITY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES, I WILL PERMIT USE OF THESE WEAPONS FOR THE CURRENT FIGHT, BUT MUST REQUEST THAT THEY ARE RETURNED ONCE THE BATTLE IS OVER_."

"Hey, anything that can do _that _to somebody isn't the kind of thing I want on my belt longer than I have to have it," Ethan said, before he turned around and fired the weapon at the nearest Dementor, grinning as it screamed and fell back to the ground without any signs that it would get back up later.

"All _right_!" Conner said, grinning broadly as he armed the weapon. "C'mon, guys; time to saddle up and kick some ass!"

Even as the Rangers dived back into action, weapons blazing amid the Patronus-charged punches of the Patronus Force and the golden Patronuses of the magical Hogwarts Guardians, dementors were already either retreating or disintegrating as the new weapons struck them, empty robes falling to the ground as the monstrous creatures were taken down by the sheer numbers now arrayed against them…

* * *

Hurrying along the passage might have taken longer than Tommy had anticipated- invisibility made things easier, but they'd still needed to take care when coming across Ivan's weird henchmen that they didn't make enough noise to attract attention to themselves-, but they'd finally found themselves on a catwalk above what could only be Ivan's laboratory, filled with various large pieces of equipment, and with Ooze pacing back and forth in obvious irritation at something.

"Great," Tommy noted, looking briefly down at the purple-skinned maniac before looking back at his friends. "I don't know what's bothering him, but I don't think we can hope for the best; things haven't exactly been going our way lately."

"Tell me about it…" Alan muttered.

"Look!" Elizabeth said, pointing urgently over the catwalk. "There's the Zeo Crystal!"

Following her gaze, Tommy quickly saw the object in question, the familiar large crystal lying on a worktable within a large transparent cube that was most likely being used for security purposes.

"What do we do now?" Trent asked, looking over at Tommy.

"Go in, get the Crystal, and get out," Tommy said firmly, scanning the room as he spoke. "We may never get another chance like this; the only problem is getting in close enough to grab it before Ooze realises what we're doing…"

"Only one way for that to work," Alan said, summoning his morphers as he spoke. "I'll keep Ooze distracted and you guys go for the Crystal."

"What?" Trent said, looking at Alan in surprise. "You're going up against-"

"I have enough blood on my hands because of that snake-faced bastard already," Alan said, staring at Trent with a cold glare that the White Dino Thunder didn't like the look of. "If we can get you all back to stop him somewhere else…"

"Ah, so noble of you, Red Ranger," a mocking voice said, the Rangers spinning around to face Ivan Ooze, now on the catwalk with them and looking at them all with a broad grin despite the obvious numerical disadvantage.

"Did you seriously think that you could sneak past _me_?" Ooze said, looking mockingly at the various Rangers. "I could smell your stench miles from here!"

"No point in trying this any more, then," Tommy said, shifting back to visibility as he activated his morpher. "Dino Thunder, power up!"

"White Ranger, Dino Power!"

"Yellow Lioness Patronus Power!"

"Red Wolf Patronus Power!"

"Alright, Ooze," Alan said, glaring at his enemy now that he was fully armed and prepared for the upcoming battle. "Bring it on!"

"Nice trick," Ivan said, grinning shark-like at the four Rangers. "How about I show you mine?"

As the Rangers watched, Ivan raised his arms and his robes shifted and contorted into a suit of what Tommy could only think of metal insect armour, a mantis-style helmet on Ivan's head and the suit itself resembling an exoskeleton, along with a long staff in Ivan's three-clawed hands.

"Pretty spiffy, don't you think?" Ivan asked, spinning the staff before assuming a combat stance. "And now, I'm going to destroy you just like the Master destroyed Diagon Alley... _LET'S DANCE_!"

Tommy might not know what Ivan meant by that last comment about his Master, but he knew when it was time to start a fight, and this was definitely one of those times.

* * *

"What are you doing, Billy?" Rocky asked, looking curiously at the original Blue Ranger while Adam worked on another console to make contact with Kat and Tanya; he might be married to Tanya, but her career kept her on the go, even if Kat was naturally more distant.

"I'm re-routing some of the communication sub-routines to the Inter-Dimensional Communications Relay that we dispatched earlier," Billy explained without looking up from the console. "Once I get the systems ready, I'll be able to communicate with Zordon through the Viewing Globe."

"Zordon?" Rocky said, momentarily wondering if Billy was suggesting what he thought he was suggesting- he knew Billy was smart, but setting up a line to the _afterlife_?-, but then he reminded himself where this Billy came from. "You mean…. _your _Zordon, right?"

"I assume that the Zordon of your world still lives?" Dimitria asked.

"He does," Billy confirmed, nodding at her before he closed the panel. "That should do the job. Now, to see if it works…"

Tapping the relevant controls, Billy smiled as he activated the communications console. "This is the Power Chamber calling Command Center; do you read me?"

"_WE READ YOU, BILLY_," another voice said, prompting Rocky and Adam to turn and look at the Viewing Globe, trying not to react at the sight of their old mentor still alive. "_WHAT IS THE PROGRESS OF YOUR MISSION_?"

"So far, I've made contact with Dimitria as well as this world's Rocky and Adam," Billy explained. "How are things on your end?"

"_AT THE MOMENT, THE RECOVERY TEAM HAS YET TO RETURN WITH THE ZEO CRYSTAL_," Zordon said grimly. "_IN ADDITION, THE OTHER RANGERS HAVE BEEN FORCED TO DO BATTLE WITH DEMENTORS IN THE PARK. THANKFULLY, THEIR PROGRESS SHOWS THAT THIS NEW THREAT_-"

Zordon was suddenly cut off by a loud burst of static, followed by the Viewing Globe going literally dark as opposed to its usual white blankness.

"What happened?" Adam asked, looking urgently at Billy.

"I'm not sure…" Billy said, rapidly tapping the controls for a few moments before he found what he was looking for. "Oh no… the Communication Relay's been destroyed!"

"Hold on; I thought you said that thing was _between _dimensions?" Rocky said, looking at Billy in confusion. "How can anyone destroy something _between _dimensions?"

"A malfunction?" Adam suggested uncertainly.

"No… the diagnostics program shows that it was in perfect working order," Billy confirmed after a moment of analysis. "Whatever destroyed the Communications Relay was an outside source…"

"I fear that this new attack may be the work of Lord Voldemort," Dimitria said.

"Voldemort?" Adam said, looking at Dimitria in confusion.

"The bad guy at this end of the dimensions; he's basically an insane wizard with racial beliefs in superiority who's somehow acquired Rita's old staff," Rocky explained, before he looked over at Billy. "But… could he do this?"

"I… I don't know," Billy said, shaking his head uncertainly. "We had evidence that he could penetrate the dimension barrier on his own, but there's still a difference between travelling across dimensions and penetrating the void between them…"

"We cannot worry about Voldemort's capabilities at this time," Dimitria said. "What matters is that he is clearly attempting to take precautions against the Guardian Rangers returning. Are you able to build another relay?"

"Well, I brought Amanda's blueprints and research notes with me," Billy said, shrugging slightly as he looked at Dimitria. "I just need to find the parts needed to get the job done."

"Then we must proceed with all haste," Dimitria said. "If we are to return the Hogwarts Guardians to this world, we must re-establish contact with your reality."

* * *

Alongside Alan, Tommy attempted to strike Ooze with a flying double kick, but the purple monster leapt out of the way before parrying the Patronus Sabre and the Brachio Staff with his own weapon.

"Is this really the best that the two of you can do?" Ooze asked mockingly as they strained against his weapon. "I've seen _kittens _put up a much better fight than this!"

"We're just getting started, Ooze," Tommy said, glaring grimly at their enemy. "_Trent_!"

As he dived to the side with Alan following his lead, Tommy glanced up just in time to see Trent launch a group of laser arrows towards Ooze, the laser arrows exploding against Ooze's body and sending him staggering backwards. Seizing his chance, Alan fired a hex of some sort at Ooze that sent him sliding across the floor.

"Elizabeth!" Alan yelled over at his Yellow Ranger. "Get the Zeo Crystal! We'll cover you!"

"We have to keep him off of Elizabeth!" Alan yelled. "Try to get him out of the room!"

"I've got just the thing," Tommy said, smiling as he stepped forward and raised his weapon. "Energy Orb! _FIRE_!"

As the familiar purple orb flew towards its target, Ivan raised his staff and launched his own energy blast at the orb, the collision triggering an explosion that sent the combatants flying. Tommy and Ivan were just able to maintain their balance by grabbing onto the catwalk railings, but Alan and Trent were knocked off the catwalk and sent crashing to the floor.

Unable to spare the time to check on his friends, Tommy raised the Brachio Staff and charged towards Ivan, leaving him engaged in a rapid-fire duel with his opponent, their weapons moving so quickly that he could only just react to Ooze's counter-attacks. He was peripherally aware of the other Rangers talking below him, but he couldn't afford to worry about that; he had an immediate threat right now.

"You really think you can do _anything _here, Tommy Oliver?" Ooze asked, looking mockingly at him as their weapons briefly became locked in position. "You haven't been a Ranger for _years_-"

"Actually, I got these powers just last year," Tommy said, grinning at Ooze. "I might be old, but I can still pull it off; age just means experience."

"And it makes you slower!" Ooze yelled, stepping back and kicking out at Tommy, prompting a brief yell of pain as the kick struck him in the chest. Quickly regaining his balance, Tommy managed to parry Ooze's attempt to stab him with the pointed end of the staff, but he was fully aware that he was taking too long to be sure of a victory; he might be in good shape, but his body just wasn't able to push itself as fast as it could in the past…

"_Doctor O._!" Trent's voice suddenly yelled, breaking into his train of thought. "_COME ON! WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE_!"

Tommy might not know what kind of plan they'd come up with, but he knew enough to know that Trent wouldn't say ta unless he meant it. After a few more blows had been exchanged, he leapt away from Ooze and over the edge of the catwalk railing, swiftly landing on the ground to see the other three Rangers standing around the Zeo Crystal in a plastic-looking case (Tommy acknowledged it was probably made of some alien material, but he probably wouldn't recognise the name anyway, so he'd call it what it looked like).

"What's the plan?" he asked, looking between the other three.

"Touch the lid and brace yourself," Alan said, holding the box out.

Confused at what he'd just been asked to do but stuck for anything else to do, Tommy reached out and placed a couple of fingers on the lid alongside Trent, Alan and Elizabeth doing the same. Tommy was just about to ask what was meant to happen when he felt something yank at his chest…

* * *

"DAMNIT!" Sylvia cursed, looking in frustration at the remaining group of dementors left floating in the air, significantly larger than any of the groups they'd stopped earlier (There may be some proper term for a large group of Dementors, but she wasn't interested in knowing about that).

They'd taken out virtually every other dementor that had been thrown against this park, but those ones had backed off when the fight had begun to turn against them, and now, with their fellows downed and injured around the Rangers, mingled with the bodies of their victims, they were clearly ready to finish the already-exhausted teams.

"Ideas?" Jason asked, looking over at the other Rangers.

"Mass Patronus?" Ron suggested out of a lack of alternatives.

"Huh?" Jake said, looking at Ron inquiringly.

"Well, my lot managed to take out a fair amount when we put ours together; what if we all try it?" Ron said. "Can't hurt, right?"

"Let's go for it," Harry said, grimly raising his wand as his magical teammates did the same, along with the Patronus Force members available.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM_!" all eight of them yelled, aiming their wands at the Dementors after positioning themselves in such a manner that the spells would connect before they reached their destination. As the golden Patronuses met, they glowed for a moment before coming together in an image that put Sylvia in mind of a massive dragon before it continued to charge at the Dementors, the golden dragon actually letting out a roar as it tore through the floating black cloaks before it. As the dragon faded away, the only thing left where the dementors had been was a faint blueish glow, which quickly began to head back towards the park, breaking up into smaller fragments that spread out further as it reached the ground.

"What _is _that?" Nate asked in confusion.

"I…" Hermione said, sounding like she was squinting as she studied the object. "I _think_… those are the souls the Dementors took earlier…"

Hermione's theory was quickly confirmed as the largest collection of silver lights left reached their target of the bodies lying before the Rangers, revealing themselves to be tiny balls of light that dived back into the partly-open mouths of the comatose victims, which briefly glowed before they began to stir.

"They're awake!" Jake said, grinning as he indicated the victims. "They're waking up!"

"We must have destroyed the dementors before they could finish doing… whatever they do to the souls," Hermione said, shrugging thoughtfully as she looked over at Amanda. "They probably share souls or something like that with others of their kind in the immediate vicinity, so the souls just kept on passing from one dementor to the other until we took care of the last ones standing."

"Dementors share?" Ron said, looking at Hermione in surprise.

"Well, if only one of them got the benefit of a Kiss directly, wouldn't they all be trying to get at them rather than just let one do the feeding?" Harry pointed out. "I mean, back when they attacked us in third year, once one of them had its hands on me, that was pretty much it; the rest were all willing to just let that one feed on me and otherwise leave me alone."

"That's… that's actually rather plausible," Amanda said, nodding in agreement at Harry.

"Let's just chalk this up as a win and stop over-analysing it," Nate said, looking slightly sadly at the group of victims before him. "Too bad we didn't have these powers during the siege; we really could have saved a lot of innocent people…"

As Amanda placed a comforting hand on Nate's shoulder, the displaced Rangers exchanged uncertain glances, but finally all just shrugged; there was no way of knowing what he was talking about and this wasn't the time to try and ask anyway.


	59. Outside Schemes

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

Tommy had endured a great deal of violent treatment and disturbing experiences in his time as a Ranger- his time under Rita's original spell was still something he tried not to think about unless he unquestionably had to, and then there was that time he spent stuck in amber and then stuck in his costume afterwards-, but this 'Portkey' thing that Alan had used to get them to safety, while not the most uncomfortable thing he'd experienced, was definitely up on the list. As the swirling, disorientating feeling ended with them arriving in what looked like the desert outside the command centre, now back in their civilian attire, Tommy cursed his body's greater vulnerability as he keeled over and vomited, barely aware of Trent's queries about his status from beside him as he knelt on the ground, trembling from what he'd just endured…

"Portkey-travel sickness," Elizabeth's voice said. "It's a common reaction for those who haven't travelled via Portkey before. Are you all right, Doctor Oliver?"

"Y-yeah… I'll be fine… just a little queasy…" Tommy said, wishing that his legs felt steadier as he got back to his feet; he'd been through all kinds of crap, he was _not _going to ask for someone to help him stand when he was just _travel-sick_…

"Take this," Elizabeth said, placing a vial containing a blue liquid in his hands. "It's a Stomach-Calming potion; three small swallows, and then just give it two minutes and the potion should have done its work."

Nodding in understanding, Tommy opened the vial and took the recommended three swallows, standing still for a few moments as he felt his guts finally cease the riot they'd been apparently waging for the last few minutes, until his legs finally began to feel more stable and the rest of his body returned to normal.

"Thanks," he said, handing the vial back to Elizabeth as she returned it to a bag she'd apparently pulled out of her pocket. "That stuff really did the trick."

"Where'd you get the potions, anyway?" Alan asked.

"Started making them the day after we became Rangers," Elizabeth replied with a smile. "I thought they'd come in handy."

"Good thinking," Tommy said, nodding at the Yellow Ranger before he looked over at Alan. "So… where are we?"

"I'm… not sure," Alan said, sighing in frustration. "My calculations when creating the Portkey must have been off; I meant for us to land in the middle of the Command Center. I could have _sworn _that I did everything _right_…"

"Hey, maybe you did and the Command Centre just deflected the energy because it didn't recognise it, or maybe something about teleporting from the Moon threw everything off," Tommy said, trying to sound reassuring as he looked at the other Ranger. "There's no point beating yourself up about it, Alan; we got out with the Zeo Crystal, so let's just get back to the Command Centre and take it from there."

"Doctor Oliver's right, Alan; what you just did was unprecedentedly complicated, so there's no point beating yourself up about it," Elizabeth said, looking slightly anxiously at her boyfriend. "Seriously, you've been pushing yourself too hard ever since Doctor Oliver and the others arrived here; are you angry at them for some reason, or are you… trying to prove yourself or something?"

"Let's just call Zordon and get out of here…" Alan said, raising his communicator in an obvious attempt to cut off the conversation, only to be halted when Elizabeth placed her hand over the device and stared at him.

"Alan," she said, concern evident in her voice. "Talk to me… what's wrong?"

After looking back at her for a moment, Alan sighed in frustration.

"I don't know what's wrong with me, Elizabeth..." he said, sighing sadly as Elizabeth took his hands in hers. "It's just that I've been feeling strange lately... as though something's supposed to happen but hasn't…"

As the local Red and Yellow Rangers stared into each other's eyes, Tommy and Trent were left with the uncomfortable feeling of intruding on something that they shouldn't be looking at, but their initial thought to look away was cut off when they noticed a strange white aura appeared around their interlocked fingers, along with a gentler breeze surrounding them despite how still it had been earlier as Alan and Elizabeth moved closer together…

The sound of Alan's communicator going off shattered the moment, the strange glow vanishing and the breeze ending as the two Rangers stepped away from each other.

"_WHAT_?!" Alan snapped into the communicator, his tone a far more hostile one than anything Tommy had heard him express in a non-combat situation.

"_ALAN_," Zordon's voice replied, "_MY SENSORS DETECTED YOUR RETURN TO THE EARTH'S SURFACE. WERE YOU ABLE TO RECOVER THE ZEO CRYSTAL_?"

"Yeah," Alan answered, suddenly calmer than he had been earlier. "But my Portkey didn't make it to the Command Centre…"

"_UNDERSTOOD_," Zordon said. "_PREPARE TO BE TELEPORTED TO THE COMMAND CENTER, THERE IS ANOTHER PROBLEM THAT MUST BE DEALT WITH_."

Closing his eyes, Alan muttered a few swear words that Tommy had to admit weren't exactly typical Ranger language, but he simply crouched down, picked up the box containing the Zeo Crystal, and stood up as the other three gathered around him, Zordon soon teleporting them away.

* * *

Looking around at the Power Chamber, Rocky almost couldn't believe how easily they'd fallen back into old habits. Save for the absence of Tommy and Alpha- Dimitria was an obvious difference, but if you didn't look at the tube too much it could easily still hold Zordon-, it could have almost been the Power Chamber from the days of their conflicts with the Machine Empire before Jason showed up, the Rangers brainstorming solutions to their latest threat after the first clash hadn't worked out in their favour…

It wasn't that he regretted moving on, of course- being a Ranger had been a great experience, but it wasn't something you could do forever-, but when Kat and Tanya had returned and been briefed by Billy on the current situation, it had been good to be working with the old team again; they tried to arrange the occasional reunion, but sometimes it was just hard to coordinate all their schedules, given how far apart they were now…

"We're ready, Billy," Tanya called over from the worktable where she and Adam had been working on the two metal spheres that Billy had requested they assemble; he'd been coordinating their work and pulling up the plans on a computer screen while Kat and Rocky worked on another set of devices.

"Good job, you two," Billy said after he'd examined the spheres, before his expression became grimmer once again. "We can only hope that this Pulse Emitter will serve its purpose…"

"What exactly is this thing supposed to do again?" Kat asked, looking at the alternate version of their friend inquiringly.

"Once it's been deployed into the dimensional void, it'll send out a transmission similar to the Trans-Dimensional Relay," Billy explained. "With any luck, it'll flush out whatever it was that destroyed the original device. Once I've completed the new Relay, we'll be able to see who or what was responsible should it make a go for the Pulse Emitter. Unfortunately, since the Power Chamber doesn't have what I need to complete the new Trans-Dimensional Relay, I'll have to cross back over for the equipment I need. Rocky, how are the Molecular Decoders coming along?"

"I've finished setting them up," Rocky said, making a few last adjustments to the devices before he shrugged awkwardly. "Hopefully I've done everything right."

Walking over to the objects in question, Billy analysed the two large blue devices for a moment before nodding in approval.

"Perfect," he said, smiling as he clapped Rocky on the shoulder. "With these Decoders along with the ones I have set up at my Command Center, we have an inter-dimensional bridge that we can use to transport whatever equipment and supplies we need to complete the project at this end if we can't find them here!"

"Any chance those supplies will include some food?" Rocky asked. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting hungry."

"I'll see what I can do about the food situation while I'm picking up the cloaking device and visual monitors that I'm going to install in the new relay system," Billy said, chuckling slightly at his words even as he picked up the checklist he'd printed off defining the relevant equipment. "Anyway, I'd better get going…"

"Not without me, you're not," Rocky said, looking politely but firmly at Billy. "You've said yourself that we need to get this done fast; an extra pair of hands would definitely help that."

"I don't know, Rocky…" Billy said after a short hesitation, uncertainty practically written all over his face. "My world might be similar to yours, but it's also very different; you've already seen one example of that…"

"Would that be the fact that you're still in the mid-90s, or the fact that Zordon's still alive over there?" Rocky asked.

"The latter," Billy answered honestly. "I know that you saw a glimpse of my world's Zordon on the Viewing Globe-"

"Billy," Rocky said, placing an understanding hand on the original Blue Ranger's shoulder, addressing his friend in a quiet tone, "I'd be lying if I said that I don't miss the Zordon that served as my mentor for so long, but the fact is, we're all Power Rangers and we do what we can to help each other, even if it means traveling to other planets or alternate timelines and seeing old friends to do it."

He shrugged casually as he smiled at Billy. "Besides, I want to yell at Jason for not telling me everything about his new team."

"All right, Rocky," Billy said, smiling at the last statement after a few moments of consideration. "Just follow my lead once we're over there, and I'll do what I can to help you out if you get confused about something."

"I'll come too," Kat said, indicating the other two Rangers with a smile as they worked on the Pulse Emitter. "It'll give those two some time alone to catch up."

"OK," Billy said, nodding thoughtfully. "I suppose transporting what we need will be easier between the three of us… However, I think that you had both better bring your Zeonizers just in case Ivan tries something while we're over there."

"No problem," Rocky said, grinning as he and Kat flicked their wrists, activating a pair of bracelet-like devices with control pads on one and a crystal on the other. "I think we're ready for anything that might come up."

It might have been a while since they'd used these, but if the situation came up, they'd be ready to use it against whatever they ran into.

* * *

"_Dementors_?" Alan said, the local Red Ranger looking at Harry and Amanda in shock as they explained what they had just been dealing with while Alpha took the recovered Zeo Crystal to the Command Centre's archives for safe keeping. "What were Dementors doing in Angel Grove?"

"Attacking innocent people for no obvious reason, really," Harry said grimly. "However, that's not even _half _as disturbing as what Zordon's found out about them…"

"And what was that?" Alan asked, looking anxiously at his mentor.

"WHILE THE REMAINING RANGERS WERE BATTLING THE DEMENTORS," Zordon said grimly, "I WAS ABLE TO GET A FULL SENSOR READING ON THE CREATURES AND EVEN I AM DISTURBED BY THE RESULTS OF THOSE SCANS. THE DEMENTORS YOUR TEAMMATES FACED WERE NOT _REAL _DEMENTORS, BUT RATHER MODIFIED CLONES."

"Clones?" Tommy repeated in confusion. "Someone _created _those things on purpose?"

"But who'd want to clone Dementors of all things?" Hermione asked, evidently horrified at even the concept of what Zordon had just revealed.

"ALL THAT I CAN TELL YOU IS THAT WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE, THEY ARE HIGHLY SKILLED IN BIOLOGICAL MANIPULATION AND NANOTECHNOLOGY," Zordon said grimly.

"Suddenly, things are starting to make a little more sense…" Tommy muttered grimly.

"What do you mean by that?" Alan asked, looking curiously at the palaeontologist.

"Do you remember what Ivan said just as we started fighting with him?" Tommy said, turning to look at the local leader. "He said something about a Master destroying a place called Diagon Alley…"

"_Diagon Alley_?" the four magical Hogwarts Guardians said in shock.

"What's Diagon Alley?" Sylvia asked, looking at her teammates in confusion.

"It's essentially a shopping centre for wizards back in Britain," Alan answered. "It's where wizards in Britain buy their wands and other magical equipment…"

A thoughtful expression on his face, he looked over at Alpha. "Alpha, can you bring the area of Diagon Alley up on the Viewing Globe?"

"Already ahead of you, Alan," Alpha reported from the central console, flicking switches and turning dials. "I'm bringing the area of Diagon Alley up on the Viewing Globe now."

With the adjustments completed, the Viewing Globe activated, displaying the old-fashioned street appearance of Diagon Alley, Ginny, Hermione and Elizabeth unable to restrain horrified gasps at the sight of the alley virtually obliterated, every building having been blasted out of existence and the street littered with debris, to say nothing of robed bodies in skeletons mixed in with the rubble.

"What _happened _there?" Harry said, staring in shock at the screen; the rubble he could understand, but what could have killed wizards to leave them as skeletons so shortly after they were attacked…?

"Rangers," Alpha called out, breaking Harry's train of thought, "the scanners are detecting a large amount of activity in the centre of Diagon Alley!"

"Bring it up!" Harry, Conner, Tommy and Alan said automatically, all of them grateful for the opportunity to stop looking at the bodies. After a few moments of adjustment, the Viewgin Globe shifted to display the battered but still standing Gringotts Bank, surrounded by a small army of men in black-and-red armoured bodysuits and face-concealing helmets with red visors, along with other armoured men patrolling the streets on foot as well as in small armoured vehicles. As the Rangers watched, another group of soldiers were moving a large amount of gold, rubies and other treasures from the bank to three transport helicopters, being guarded by both troops and a squadron of attack helicopters.

"They're raiding Gringotts!" Hermione said in shock. "But… but _how _can they get into the vaults?"

"I CAN ANSWER THAT QUESTION, HERMIONE," Zordon said, an undertone of anger to his voice that those Rangers familiar with him didn't recall him expressing before. "ALPHA, RUN A SCAN ON THE WEAPONS AND BODY ARMOR BEING USED BY THOSE SOLDIERS!"

"Understood, Zordon," Alpha said, working at the console for a few moments before stepping back in shock as the results came up. "AYE-YI-YI! This can't be right! The scanners must be malfunctioning!"

"WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF THE SCAN?" Zordon asked, in a tone that reminded Harry of Dumbledore when he was trying to encourage Harry to realise what he already knew.

"The weapons and the body armour are all of _Elysian _material and design!" Alpha answered, disbelief obvious in his voice.

"Hold; Elysian?" Ethan said in confusion as he looked over at Alan and Amanda. "Wasn't that… you're related to them, right?"

"Distant relationship, but yeah," Amanda said with a grim nod.

"Dig around in family history later; did you just say that those troops are using _Elysian _weapons?" Alan said, his attention still focused on Zordon in his evident shock at this news. "Are the soldiers Elysian as well?"

"No," Alpha confirmed. "The soldiers are Terrans; only the weapons and equipment that are Elysian… which cannot be possible since the ancient Elysians destroyed all of their energy weapons before settling on Earth!"

"Well, maybe someone found the plans somewhere-" Jason began.

"THAT IS ALSO IMPOSSIBLE, JASON," Zordon said grimly. "DURING OUR MEETING, THE ELYSIAN LEADERS ENTRUSTED ME WITH THE ONLY COPIES OF THE BLUEPRINTS FOR ALL OF THEIR WEAPONS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT, WHICH ARE KEPT WITHIN MY PERSONAL FILES. ONLY I HAVE THE PASSCODE."

"Couldn't someone have… hacked the system or something?" Sylvia asked.

"I DO NOT SEE HOW," Zordon replied.

"Hold on…" Alan said, nodding thoughtfully for a moment before looking back at their mentor. "I think I know what happened."

"You do?" Trent said in surprise. "How?"

"Simple," Alan said grimly. "Since we've been Rangers, only two people have gained access to the Command Centre who had the opportunity, the knowledge, and the time to at least potentially access your files and get their hands on the blueprints. We can pretty much discount Billy as a suspect, so that just leaves one person."

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Albus Dumbledore," Alan replied.

Harry's automatic reaction was to reject that suggestion, but then he reminded himself what Alan had told them about this world's Dumbledore, along with his own experiences with the man in question, and stopped himself in time; it might be disturbing to consider Dumbledore the villain, but it wasn't exactly impossible.

"But… _why _would Dumbledore do _this_?" Ginny asked, looking at the Patronus Force Red Ranger in confusion. "I mean, I know he's not the same as he was back home, but you said that he was just… more willing to take the easy way out or something like that; what could be worth all this _death_?"

"Besides," Harry put in, "he gave me until the end of this month to complete that 'mission' he gave me; I know I haven't exactly done anything about it, but how can he know that?"

"Maybe he thinks of this as just something else to do while he's waiting for you; it's not like you'd know what these guys were if you weren't here," Alan said, still looking thoughtfully around the Command Centre. "Look, we know that the Dementors you guys faced in the park were clones… maybe the Dumbledore that entered the Zord hanger was a clone too?"

"But Alan," Alpha protested, "Dumbledore was inside the Zord hangar until Tommy and Adam brought him up here to the main chamber; he never had the _chance _to access the computers!"

"THAT IS INCORRECT, ALPHA," Zordon said grimly. "THERE _IS _A COMPUTER SYSTEM INSIDE THE ZORD HANGAR THAT IS CONNECTED TO THE COMMAND CENTER'S CENTRAL DATABASE!"

"There is?" Jason said in surprise. "You never told us about that."

"IT WAS NEVER REQUIRED, SO I SAW NO POINT," Zordon said, before his expression became more thoughtful. "BILLY AND ALPHA RECENTLY INSTALLED A SECURITY SYSTEM THAT CONSISTS OF A NETWORK OF VISUAL MONITORING SYSTEMS. ALPHA, SEARCH THE SECURITY FILES FOR THE ZORD HANGAR TAKEN DURING THE TIME THAT THE RANGERS WERE BATTLING GRIMSKULL!"

"It may take a while to locate the file, Zordon," Alpha said as he set to work. "However, I will do what I can to locate it as swiftly as possible!"

"Can we-?" Hermione began.

"No, Hermione," Alpha said, shaking his head as he looked at her. "The offer is appreciated, but these files are highly secret and therefore heavily encrypted; even with your skills, you would simply be unable to think fast enough to crack the codes, and I feel that even I will have trouble doing so."

"I HAVE EVERY CONFIDENCE IN YOU, ALPHA," Zordon said, before turning back to the Rangers. "ONCE ALPHA HAS LOCATED THE SECURITY FILES, I WILL HAVE ALPHA MAKE A COPY FOR YOU TO STUDY. ALAN, HAVE YOU RECEIVED WORD FROM YOUR GRANDFATHER REGARDING THE SPEAR OF ELYSIA?"

"Not yet," Alan said, shaking his head apologetically. "Still, if my grandpa follows his usual business schedule, I _should _have an answer by tonight."

"THEN I SUGGEST THAT YOU RETURN HOME," Zordon said. "I SHALL HAVE ALPHA SEND YOU A DISC OF THE SECURITY RECORDINGS ONCE THAT FILE HAS BEEN LOCATED."

"But what about those soldiers?" Jason protested. "Shouldn't we do something about them?"

"I AM AFRAID NOT, JASON," Zordon said, his expression more sombre than it had been previously. "UNTIL WE HAVE IRREFUTABLE PROOF THAT WE ARE DEALING WITH A RANGER-LEVEL THREAT, WE CANNOT GET INVOLVED."

"_What_?" Ron said incredulously.

"They're using alien armour downloaded from _your _files-!" Hermione began.

"BUT THEIR ACTIONS ARE CURRENTLY ONLY A DANGER ON THE SMALL SCALE, AND ELYSIAN ARMOUR, WHILE POWERFUL, DOES NOT MAKE THEM INVINCIBLE IN A FIGHT AGAINST NON-RANGERS," Zordon said solemnly.

"_They're still KILLING people with my ancestors' weapons_-!" Alan protested.

"BUT THE TROOPS OPERATING IN DIAGON ALLEY ARE FUNDAMENTALLY NOTHING MORE THAN TERRANS WITH NO SPECIAL ABILITIES OF THEIR OWN," Zordon interjected sadly. "WHATEVER ACTIONS THEY TAKE REMAIN CLASSIFIED AS A DOMESTIC DISPUTE BETWEEN THE NATIVES OF EARTH AND UNDER THE LAWS OF THE MELEDON- LAWS TO WHICH EVEN I AM NOT IMMUNE- WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO INTERFERE."

"OK, so we can't get involved as Rangers; can we-?" Conner asked.

"GETTING INVOLVED WITHOUT USING YOUR POWERS WOULD MERELY BE AN ATTEMPTED LOOPHOLE THAT WOULD NOT HOLD UP TO SCRUTINY," Zordon said apologetically. "YOUR INTENTIONS ARE GOOD, BUT WE MUST LEAVE THESE INTRUDERS TO THEIR PLANS FOR THE PRESENT; THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT THEM NOW."

"Particularly not with the Psychos to sort out, huh?" Ron said, trying weakly to lighten the mood by focusing on something they could stop.

"PRECISELY," Zordon said, nodding at the Yellow Guardian Ranger. "BUT FOR NOW, THE HOUR IS GROWING LATE AND I RECOMMEND THAT YOU RETURN TO ANGEL GROVE AND REST YOURSELVES WHILE YOU CAN. MEGAN, I WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO REMAIN BEHIND FOR A MOMENT LONGER AS THERE IS SOMETHING THAT I NEED TO DISCUSS WITH YOU ALONE."

With nothing else to do, the other Rangers teleported away back to Alan's house, leaving Megan to talk with Zordon about whatever he wanted to discuss.

* * *

_Perfect_, Voldemort reflected to himself, as he contemplated the latest mental 'transmission' he had received from the Dimension Walker.

The knowledge that the Hogwarts Guardians were attempting to return home was a frustrating inconvenience, but it was hardly unanticipated; they wouldn't have challenged his power if they were willing to quickly concede to defeat.

Besides… in the end, that actually made what he was about to do all the easier; with signals being sent between the dimensions, it wasn't that hard for his creation to identify the location where the signals were being transmitted from at this side of the dimensional barrier, as well as the earlier searches across the barrier for what could only be the Guardian Rangers. All he had needed to do was have some patience, and the Dimension Walker had provided him with the exact coordinates of what was most likely their base of operations at this side.

With that location found, he just needed some time to select the appropriate forces for his upcoming attack, and then he would be ready to mount a new assault that would leave the already-displaced Guardians without _anywhere _to retreat to…


	60. Coming Together, Moving Apart

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who _does _own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

**Feedback: **Please; I'd _really _like to know that somebody's reading this

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As Jason ducked under the latest kick from Tommy, he couldn't help but smile at the familiarity of the current situation; after so long working as a teacher first and foremost, it was refreshing to be facing an opponent who could give him a challenge with some tricks he didn't know already (Not that he didn't appreciate the opportunity to train his new team; he just missed having an opponent to test himself against).

Glancing around, Jason was pleased to see that the rest of their teams were making the most of the current training opportunity. With the Patronus Force Rangers occupied with either setting up various energy scanners to alert them to any further dimensional crossing activity or working on a means of stopping the Psychos when they attacked again, the dimensionally-displaced teams had relocated to a training chamber in the Command Centre to practise on their own. After the two eldest Rangers had established the only rules for the fight as being nothing that would cause permanent damage and all participants forbidden to use their magic or their dino powers, they had left their teammates to focus on their hand-to-hand skills. Tommy and Jason were using the opportunity to have a friendly spar, but the other Rangers were having a more active training session at this point.

Looking at the group of people around them, Jason had to approve of how the teams had divided themselves while training. Conner and Harry were currently trading blows at such a rapid rate that only those who knew Conner would have known for certain that he wasn't using his superspeed, their sports-trained reflexes allowing them to remain fairly even despite their varying experience. Given her pre-existing combat training, Sylvia was working with Ginny due to their similar body types- both having pre-existing athletic experience before their Ranger training, although Sylvia was the better fighter-, while Kira was using some of the tricks Doctor Oliver had taught her during her career to give Hermione some pointers on her own technique. Ron, Trent and Ethan were working on a three-way training system, one of them fending off the other two for a while before switching roles to keep it all fresh.

Looking around Jason wondered what it said about their worlds that Ron and Ginny were most obviously the weakest combatants. They had good reflexes, but he was guessing that the others had at least some knowledge of seeing action movies to draw on- Harry's films had probably been watched in secret, considering how his relatives had treated him, but he would have had the chance to see something if he was careful-, where Ron and Ginny were limited to whatever they'd picked up in the last few months and the natural abilities provided by their powers; they did better when morphed than they did out of morph (He was reminded of the stories Tommy had told them about the additional training Tanya had needed after joining; she'd done all right in the Zeo Rangers' debut fight, but she'd still needed some crash courses before the others were comfortable letting her be on her own).

"Damn…" Ron said, gasping for air as he, Trent and Ethan finished their latest bout, the three Rangers stepping back as they exchanged glances. "_That_… was… exhausting…"

"Disadvantage of quidditch, really," Harry said with a shrug as the other Rangers halted their fights, the Red Hogwarts Guardian walking over to his teammate. "We build up good reflexes, but we don't really _do _much on the brooms, so we're less used to having to push ourselves like this."

"Hey, reflexes are an important part of any fight; don't underestimate them," Jason said, looking over at Harry with a brief glare before he smiled in understanding. "That said, I get your point; you're only going to get anywhere if we keep pushing you."

"And we get that; we just… need a break for a while," Harry said, smiling slightly at his Ranger mentor as he sat down on the floor, grabbing a bottle of water from a nearby bag and taking a quick drink from it, before indicating the Elysian chest they'd left in the corner. "What about that?"

"No idea," Hermione said, shaking her head as she sat down alongside Harry, the other Rangers sitting down around them. "I've tried looking over some of those scrolls with that translation machine Alpha gave me, but there's only so much I can really get from that; some of the details about Elysian history are interesting, but how can I know they'll apply when I'm back home?"

"Tell me about it," Ethan said, looking grimly over at his fellow Blue Ranger. "I took a look with that translator thing myself, and all I managed to find was some stuff about a Battiliser that I'm not sure I understood even when it was in English…"

"You found stuff about a Battiliser?" Jason said, looking sharply at Ethan before he exchanged glances with Tommy, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Yeah, so?" Ethan asked. "What-?"

Ethan was interrupted when a sudden burst of energy appeared in the middle of the training room, followed by two men and one women appearing in the same location as the energy burst before it faded and vanished.

Billy was immediately recognisable to the newer Rangers as he appeared among the group, but the other two were relative strangers to both the Hogwarts Guardians and the Dino Thunder Rangers, even as their team's respective mentors identified them almost immediately.

"Rocky!" Jason said, grinning at the sight of the first successor to his position as the Red Ranger.

"Kat?" Tommy said, smiling uncertainly at his former girlfriend. "What are you doing here?"

"We thought that an extra pair of hands at this end might be a good idea," Kat said, wincing slightly as she shook her head.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, looking curiously at the Pink Zeo Ranger.

"Just a side-effect of travelling across dimensions; it's not exactly comfortable, you know," Rocky said, shrugging at the Blue Hogwarts Guardian as he walked over to help his teammate. "Still, it's less dangerous than some things; try turning into a plant, and _then _you'll see what's weird."

"You were turned into a _plant_?" Ethan said, looking at Rocky in shock.

"Almost; the guys managed to stop it by hitting my cells with pure oxygen and basically starving the plant cells," Rocky said, waving a dismissive hand at Ethan before he looked at the teams around him with a slight smile. "So, you're the new guys, huh?"

"We've all been at this for a few months at least; that's not really accurate…" Sylvia began uncertainly.

"Hey, you're talking to the fifth longest-running Ranger on Earth; man deserves respect," Jason said, grinning over at Sylvia before he gave Rocky a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Seriously, it's good to see you again, Rocky."

"Good to see you too, Jase," Rocky replied, before his eyes narrowed. "Seriously, it has been _really _tough running the dojo without you; I expect to get the whole story about your new team before this mess is over."

"I'll do what I can," Jason said, nodding reassuringly at them.

"Always a pleasure to meet other Rangers," Sylvia said, smiling at the three new arrivals before turning her attention to the more immediate matter. "So, how are things going at your end?"

"Well, we've got some of the equipment gathered to establish the portal, and we've gathered together the rest of the Zeo team back home- Tommy provided us with the location of his fragment-, but there's only so much we can do with our current resources," Billy explained. "We needed to collect some equipment from this world to complete the device in their world, and ensure that everything was in order at this end before we set up the portals so that both sides are synchronised; we can send people through portals at this size, but we obviously need more power to send the zords back."

"Need any extra hands?" Conner asked, attracting surprised stares from the other Rangers. "Well, we don't have any zords over here, but if things get ugly at the other end, it couldn't hurt for you guys to have some back-up, right?"

"He makes a good point," Harry said, looking over at Rocky and Kat. "I mean, I'm not saying you're not good at what you do, but the Dino Thunder Rangers have at least some idea of who we're up against; I'm rather not leave our zords behind if there's still a chance we can get them back, but that doesn't mean you should have to deal with Voldemort on your own."

"Who's- your villain, right?" Kat said, answering her own question.

"Precisely," Ginny said grimly. "Just take care if he shows up; there's no telling what he's going to use against you next."

"When are the villains _ever _predictable?" Ethan said with a shrug. "Granted, we never had to deal with a psychotic racist wizard using alien magic, but we'll do what we can if he shows up."

"Plus," Tommy said, looking over at Jason with a smile, "it's not like we don't still have the Zeo Zords available if the need come up…"

"You do?" Conner said, looking at his mentor in surprise. "Then why-?"

"Did we switch over to the Turbo powers?" Tommy finished for his Ranger protégé, smiling in understanding at him before his expression became slightly grimmer. "It's a long story that this isn't the best place for; let's just say for the moment that… other things… about those powers… made it risky for us to use them when we were facing a relatively low-key villain like Dimitria; they were needed for the Machine Empire, but once that fight was over, it was better to just retire them…"

Further conversation on that particular topic was interrupted when the door to the training room opened and Alan and Amanda walked in, both of them immediately pulling out their wands and yelling at the Zeos not to move before Alan registered the identity of the new arrival wearing blue.

"Rocky?" he said, looking at the man he only knew as the retired Red Ranger in confusion. "What the-?"

"It's OK, guys!" Billy said, as he, Tommy and Jason moved between the Patronus Force and the two Zeos. "These two are with me; they're Rangers back… well, back in their world!"

"Uh… right…" Alan said, lowering his wand halfway as his gaze flicked between Billy and Kat. "Rocky I can kind of recognise even with the aging, but who's your other friend?"

"This is Katherine," Tommy explained. "On our world, she was the Pink Zeo Ranger and the first Pink Turbo Ranger; you can trust her."

After the two 'local' Rangers had exchanged glances, Alan nodded and returned his wand to his holster, Amanda following his lead as he looked apologetically at Rocky and Katherine. "Sorry about that; we haven't been taking surprises too well these days, especially with the mischief that Ivan causes…"

"Hey, we get it; considering what Billy's told us about that guy, you've every right to be a bit edgy," Rocky said, nodding reassuringly at them before he shrugged and looked over at Amanda. "Anyway, Billy told us you're the techno-whiz for this team, so any chance you can help us work out what we need from here to put our portal together safely?"

"I suppose I could," Amanda replied with a casual smile. "I've just finished with my Molecular Manipulator, so I've some time to kill; what do you need?"

"I put together a list of what we need to collect on this side," Billy answered, handing Amanda a clipboard that she glanced over with an ever-deepening frown.

"Well…" she said, as she looked up after a moment's silent study, "I just used the last rechargeable power cells to make the Molecular Manipulator, but the rest of the items are stored away in a pair of warehouses that my grandpa owns, and _he's _the only one who can access them…"

"Great…" Rocky said, groaning in exasperation. "So, how can we get in contact with him?"

"And will he let us have access to the parts we need?" Billy asked.

"All you have to do is ask me, son," a new voice said from the side, the Rangers spinning around to find themselves looking a man with shoulder-length grey hair in a white shirt and tie, stepping nonchalantly out of the shadows, followed by a smaller figure in heavy black robes that completely concealed them from view.

"Who are you?" Jason asked, he, Sylvia, Kat, Rocky and the Dino Thunder team shifting into combat stances as the magical Rangers drew their wands.

The man simply smiled at Jason's question, before Amanda took a few wary steps forward, before taking a deep breath and singing. "_Bellatrix Lestrange is a sore_…"

"_So I hit her in the face with a door_!" the man sang back, loudly clapping his hands.

"GRANDPA!" Amanda squealed in delight, leaping into the man's arms, leaving Harry to exchange confused glances with his fellow dimensionally-displaced Rangers- Alan seemed to recognise the guy, anyway- as they put their wands away before Amanda stepped back and the other man looked at them with a broad smile.

"Andrew Beaumont," he said, pulling Alan into a tight hug as he spoke. "CEO of the new Beaumont Technologies Corporation, head of Project Nexus, and the _proud _grandfather of these two... at your service!"

"Uh, Grandpa?" Alan said, looking slightly embarrassed as he pulled away from his grandfather. "Not that I'm unhappy about seeing you, but… how did you get in here?"

"I've known about Zordon since I was your age- even if I've never had the chance to meet him, just as I've known that you and your friends were the Power Rangers!" Andrew said, smiling in a knowing manner that made Harry think of a less enigmatic Dumbledore. "As to the _how _I got in… well, that's the beauty of having access to alien technology to experiment with along with magical and non-magical techniques and equipment; I used _this_!"

With that statement, Andrew pulled something out of his pocket and held it up for the Rangers to see, the object resembling a large television remote with a long stem and dish attached to it.

"And… that is?" Trent asked.

"_This _is the Flash Gate Accelerator, or FGA for short," Andrew explained. "In short, it opens a time-space portal which allows me to travel to anyplace that I wish to go, even to other planets and parallel Earths-"

"Parallel Earths?" Hermione said, looking at him with renewed interest. "How large a portal can the FGA generate?"

"This particular model can only generate a portal large enough to allow a family to pass through..." Andrew replied, giving Hermione an apologetic look "And from what I've heard, you kids need to transport something much bigger."

"How do you know that?" Sylvia asked, looking pointedly at the older man.

"Because, in a way, I'm the reason that you made it here to this world in one piece!" Andrew smiled as he explained "We were running some diagnostics on our equipment when your Zords appeared inside Virtual Reality- that's our term for the space between dimensions- while your Voldemort sent you through an inter-dimensional gateway, the careless manner in which he did so would have caused your Zords to explode upon re-entry; we at Project Nexus used our own FGA equipment to bring you through safely by adjusting your… 'velocity' is the best term, really. Unfortunately, the stress of this act destroyed our original FGA machine and we've been working on rebuilding it ever since."

"So… in other words, Voldemort probably assumed that we'd be destroyed when we were sent on to another dimension, but your equipment found us while we were in transit?" Tommy said.

"Wouldn't we have survived, though?" Trent asked. "I mean, we weren't _in _zords when we were sent through-"

"We weren't that far away from them either," Conner pointed out as he looked over at Trent. "I know we can take a lot of punishment, but I don't think a zord blowing up that close to us is something we can take."

"Talking of dimension travel, wouldn't 'interspace' be a better term for the space between dimensions?" Ethan pointed out, looking inquiringly at Andrew. "I mean, virtual reality just sounds more like something you'd find in a video game…"

"Look," Hermione said, holding up her hands, "quibbling about the fine details of dimension travel isn't going to get us anywhere; the fact is that Billy's plan is still our best bet to get home, so we should just focus on that right now."

"Talking of focusing on things, we've established how you got here-" Alan began, looking at his grandfather.

"And unless your reason for being here has anything to do with getting us back or an imminent threat to others, it's not relevant right now," Ginny said firmly.

"Pardon?" Alan said, looking sharply over at the female Green Ranger.

"Look, I get that you're excited to see him again, and I don't mean to cause offence, but we've got a lot to do right now and very little time to do it in," Ginny said, looking apologetically at Andrew before she continued to address Alan. "The point is, right now we're staying here to help you with the Psychos, but _our_ priority is getting home so that we can deal with Voldemort; unless your grandfather's come to report that something worse is about to attack us, we can't afford to waste any more time."

"She's right," Ron said, looking awkwardly at the older man. "I mean… I know this is your world and all, and we've enjoyed getting to know you, but we need to think about the people _we _were given the powers to protect, which means that we need to get home."

"Loyalty and determination," Harry said, shrugging as Alan looked at him. "Ron and Ginny's Gems chose them for those qualities; when they're set on something they believe in, they're not going to give up."

"Just in case you haven't noticed, _Weasley..._" Amanda snarled angrily through her clenched teeth, her eyes appearing to actually become a darker shade of blue as she glared at Ginny, "with my grandpa here, your chances of getting home have just greatly _improved_!"

"I'm not saying we don't appreciate the help, I'm saying that we can't waste time-!" Ginny protested.

"Oh, now we're a waste of time?" Amanda countered, still glaring at the Green Guardian Ranger.

"She meant that we've got too many immediate concerns to deal with right now; she didn't mean-!" Harry started to protest, before Amanda's attempts to interrupt were cut off when Andrew grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face him.

"Amanda June Fairchild," the old man said, his expression calm but firm as he spoke, "anger only clouds the issue, and it seems to me that you kids have more important things to do than to fight amongst yourselves."

"Exactly," Billy said, nodding at Andrew before focusing his attention on Amanda. "I appreciate the input, but Ginny's right in that we've been relying on the Hogwarts Guardians and the Dino Thunder team to help us with _our _problems for a while now; it's only natural that they want to get home to deal with things there."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Andrew said, nodding at the original Blue Ranger before taking the clipboard with the list of needed parts, quickly perusing it before looking back at Billy. "Well, all of these items are available from my warehouses here in Angel Grove; the only exception is the Neutron Phase Generator in my secret research laboratory, and that's simple enough to collect with the FGA."

"Understood," Billy said, nodding briefly at the older man. "We'll focus on getting the parts from the warehouses first, then we'll go after the Phase Generator…"

Further conversation was interrupted by the sound of alarms suddenly blaring, followed by Zordon's voice emerging from the room's speakers. "_RANGERS, WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY! PLEASE REPORT TO THE MAIN CHAMBER IMMEDIATELY_!"

"This, on the other hand, we _are _willing to take time out for," Ron said, indicating the speakers as the Rangers turned to head out of the training room, a grim-faced Jason in the lead.

* * *

"What's happening, Zordon?" Alan asked, as the group hurried into the Command Centre's main chamber, Zordon's expression as he turned to look at them becoming a rarely-seen expression of confusion as he took in the new arrivals.

"Uh… hi," Rocky said, looking uncertainly at his old mentor. "I, uh… well, you know my counterpart, and this is Kat- she was the Pink Ranger on the last two Ranger teams I was on back home-; we came to help Billy gather equipment for the portal on our side."

"I SEE," Zordon said, apparently nodding at Kat in acknowledgement before turning his attention to the oldest new face. "AND WHO ARE YOU?"

"I'm sorry, Zordon," Alan said apologetically, indicating the older man. "This is my grandfather."

"YOU ARE DOCTOR BEAUMONT?" Zordon asked, a new understanding in his manner as he looked at the old man.

"I am," Andrew confirmed. "I can hardly believe that I am meeting the mighty Zordon that my ancestors wrote about in such length! Please... allow me to say... _Ataron aontu sera'nou_."

"_BE' TARU SERA'NOU_," Zordon said, returning Andrew's bow as he spoke with an inclination of his own head. "YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF ELTAR IS MOST IMPRESSIVE, DOCTOR BEAUMONT. WELCOME TO MY HOME."

"Uh… Zordon?" Jason asked. "Wasn't there an emergency?"

"INDEED, JASON," Zordon confirmed. "OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE."

Turning to look at the Viewing Globe, the image it revealed quickly clarified what was happening; three figures that the older Rangers present quickly identified as Lieutenant Stone, Bulk and Skull were being held inside a metal cage, with a large device mounted in front of it with lights flashing all over in rapid succession.

"THAT DEVICE HAS BEEN SENDING A DIRECT SIGNAL HERE TO THE COMMAND CENTER ON A CODED FREQUENCY," Zordon explained grimly. "IT IS DEMANDING THAT THE PATRONUS FORCE RANGERS PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO THAT LOCATION OR BULK, SKULL, AND LT. STONE WILL FACE FATAL CONSEQUENCES."

"That's it?" Ron said, looking at Zordon in surprise. "That's the best trap Ooze could come up with?"

"I know what you mean," Alan said, grimly studying the display before them. "Like you said, this just seems a bit obvious for Ooze, and Zedd tended to rely on monsters more than anything else…"

"Actually, if your Zedd's anything like my Zedd, he _did _try a couple of hostage-based attacks, but those always had something else behind them and generally didn't work out the way he wanted even before we rescued his hostage," Tommy said, looking sceptically at the globe.

"Maybe this is another diversionary tactic?" Hermione asked, her face showing her obvious discomfort at the memory. "You know, like that time he spent the Dark Rangers into the Command Centre to grab Megan…"

"Well, whatever it is," Alan said firmly, "if they want the Patronus Force Rangers, they won't be disappointed."

"In other words, you're going to spring their trap?" Harry said with a sceptical glance. "I don't know about that…"

"It's our best shot at flushing him out, anyway; without any other ideas, we'll have to go with it," Alan said, looking over at Amanda. "We'll go there now; Conner, would you and your team mind going with my Grandpa-?"

"Uh… do you _really _think that's necessary?" Ron asked, looking over at Alan. "The guy _just _got here, and Ooze hasn't expressed any interest in doing anything more than killing Rangers so far; why would he be after your grandfather's stuff now?"

"It's not Ooze I'm worried about, unless you've forgotten about those Dementor clones you danced with not so long ago," Alan said. "Ooze doesn't seem to be the kind of creep that would bother to modify a perfectly good dark creature to make them easier to deal with-"

"Hold on," Jason said, looking sharply at Alan. "Are you suggesting that those Dementors were just a… test or diversion of some kind?"

"I'm not sure…" Alan said, placing a series of printouts that he'd been holding since he arrived in the training room on a nearby table. "But after the stuff I've been digging up, I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Harry thought about asking what 'stuff' that was, but decided against it; if Alan thought it was immediately relevant, he'd mention it, and if it wasn't relevant talking about it would just waste time.

"Well… if you're sure whatever your grandfather's up to can help us all get back," Jason said, looking over at Alan, "Tommy and I will go with him; between us, Rocky and Kat's Zeonizers, and Billy's Ninjetti powers, we should be able to handle anything that might try and get him."

"Thanks, Jason," Alan said, smiling gratefully at the original Red Ranger before turning to his sister. "You ready to do this, sis?"

"I was _born _ready!" Amanda said, grinning as she activated her morphers. "_It's Morphin' Time! _White Hare Patronus Power!"

Instead of Amanda transforming into the White Patronus Force Ranger, however, a burst of energy erupted from her morphers, leaving Amanda to collapse to the floor unconscious, Alan immediately diving down to the ground beside her as he checked her pulse. Before any of the other Rangers could offer their assistance, Alan had picked Amanda up in his arms and hurried her over to the medical table, laying her down before stepping back to allow Alpha room to examine her.

"So… what just happened?" Trent asked, looking curiously at his Patronus Force counterpart as Alpha ran the scanner over her form.

"Well," Alpha said, turning around to address the Rangers as he finished the scan, "Amanda will be fine, but there appears to be a problem with her crystal."

"What sort of problem?" Alan asked.

"I WAS AFRAID THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN…" Zordon said grimly. "THE CRYSTALS THAT POWERS AMANDA'S MORPHERS ARE BEGINNING TO REBEL AGAINST HER."

"Wait…" Jason said, looking over at Tommy and the two Zeos before he looked up at Zordon. "Is this like what happened to me when I took on the Gold Ranger powers?"

"What happened?" Alan asked; Harry wondered if he would have asked for more information if it hadn't been his sister who'd just collapsed, but this definitely wasn't the time to wonder about that kind of detail.

"Basically, I was only selected as the Gold Ranger for the Zeo Ranger team as a temporary measure when the original Gold Ranger was injured in a fight; what happened to him is a long story that this isn't the time to explain," Jason said, waving his hand briefly at Alan before he looked back at Zordon. "The point is, eventually my body began to reject the Gold Ranger powers because they'd been designed for an alien physiology and weren't compatible with me; is that what happened here?"

"YES AND NO, JASON," Zordon said. "THE WHITE CRYSTAL WAS ACTIVATED BY LUNA LOVEGOOD, THE ORIGINAL WHITE PATRONUS FORCE RANGER, BY COMBINING IT WITH HER OWN MAGIC."

"You mean her Patronus?" Billy asked.

"YES, BILLY," Zordon confirmed. "WHEN LUNA HAD BEEN FORCED TO TRANSFER HER POWERS TO AMANDA, SHE GAVE AMANDA CONTROL OVER THE HAREZORD, BUT NOT THE PATRONUS THAT HAD BEEN COMBINED WITH THE POWER CRYSTAL."

"In other words… Amanda's losing control of the White Ranger powers?" Alan asked.

"I AM AFRAID SO, ALAN," Zordon nodded. "I HAD BEEN HOPING THAT THIS WOULD NOT HAPPEN FOR A WHILE, BUT WE NOW HAVE NO CHOICE. IN ORDER TO SAVE AMANDA'S LIFE, LUNA'S PATRONUS MUST BE PURGED FROM THE CRYSTAL AND REPLACED BY AMANDA'S OWN. HOWEVER, BY DOING SO, LUNA WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO RESUME HER PLACE AS THE WHITE RANGER."

"Oh no…" Kira said, looking sympathetically at the unconscious Ranger.

The Dino Thunder team had already lost their powers once, and that had been a hard experience despite their initial reluctance to take on the responsibility of their powers, but they'd sacrificed their powers to stop a greater threat and known they were doing it; the idea that a Ranger could lose her powers and not have any say in it…

"How's Luna coming along?" Harry asked, looking up at Zordon. "Is there any chance that she'll be available to take the powers back herself?"

"UNFORTUNATELY, THE DAMAGE INFLICTED ON LUNA BY NIMROD WILL REQUIRE NO LESS THAN A FULL MONTH FOR RECOVERY, AND THAT IS TIME THAT WE DO NOT HAVE," Zordon said apologetically. "THE LONGER WE WAIT TO PURGE THE CRYSTAL, THE MORE WE RUN THE RISK OF AMANDA BEING DRASTICALLY HARMED."

"We have no choice then," Alan said grimly. "I don't like doing this but as the leader of the Patronus Force, I have to put my team first and we need to be up to full strength. Alpha, have the White Power Crystal purged of Luna's Patronus and have it prepared to accept Amanda's once she's up to casting one."

"That's _it_?" Harry said, spinning around to look at Alan. "You're going to just _take _Luna's powers-?"

"End of discussion, _Potter_!" Alan said, turning around to glare at his fellow Red Ranger. "I spent three months inside Hogwarts watching my friends being killed in front of me and I'll be damned if I'm going to sit back and watch my sister die just because _you _think you know everything!"

"That's _not _what I-!" Harry began, glaring indignantly at the other Ranger.

"GUYS!" Jason yelled, stepping between his protégé and the other Red Ranger, glaring pointedly at them before he continued in a quieter tone. "I know that we've been dealing with a lot lately, but like Ginny said earlier, we have to focus on what's important right now; Amanda can wait for a bit, but in case you're forgetting, we have hostages to rescue, OK?"

"Right," Alan said, nodding grimly at the reminder of the hostages as he resumed a battle stance. "Have the others meet me there; it's _Morphin' Time_!"

"OK," Ron said, as Alan vanished, "just _who _does Alan think he is, talking to Harry like that?"

"He's someone who has spent three months in Hell, boy," Andrew said, looking grimly at the Yellow Guardian Ranger. "During Voldemort's three-month long siege of Hogwarts Castle, Alan and his friends have seen more death and destruction than any of you ever have, and now that he knows that there's _another_ and even more powerful Voldemort causing trouble, it's like Alan's being forced to relive that nightmare, and the thought of even _more _deaths both frightens and angers him."

"He _does _know that we're not asking him to fight our Voldemort, right?" Ginny pointed out. "I mean, we're helping you deal with the Psycho Rangers because they wouldn't be a problem if we hadn't come here, but we can handle Voldemort on our own back home; once we get back, he's our responsibility, and that's that."

"That doesn't matter to him," Andrew replied. "He knows that there's another Voldemort out there capable of doing what he witnessed; that's enough for him right now."

"It sounds like you can read his mind or something," Ethan noted, looking curiously at the older wizard.

"I don't have to," Andrew said, grimly shaking his head. "I'm his grandfather and everyone in our family has suffered whether they were there or not. Both Voldemort and Dumbledore have committed crimes against us…"

For a moment, it looked like he was about to continue, but instead he simply sighed and turned his attention to Jason and Tommy. "Well, let's go and get those parts."

"Grandpa," the small robed figure that had been standing behind him said, her soft voice bordering on pleading, "can I _please _take these Healing Robes off now? My cold feels like it's gone!"

"What?" Andrew said, looking back at her before giving the figure a brief smile. "Well, if you're feeling better, I suppose that it's all right."

With the older man's permission, the robed figure unfastened the clasps holding the robes in place, allowing them to fall away to reveal a blonde girl around fourteen years old dressed in a pink shirt and blue jean skirt, Alpha's startled reaction as he looked between the new arrival and Amanda more than enough to confirm what the Rangers had already realised.

"Oh my gosh," Kat said in a subdued voice. "She looks just like-"

"_This _is my youngest grandchild, Allison," Andrew said, clearly amused at the reaction the girl was receiving. "She's Alan and Amanda's little sister, and one of the reasons I harbour a lot of hatred towards Albus Dumbledore. And now that the introductions have been made, I believe that we have a lot of work to do."

"Quite," Billy said, nodding in agreement at the other man's statement. "Shall we get going?"

"Just a moment…" Andrew said, pulling out the FGA once more and tapping in the combination code to activate it, the device quickly generating the required wormhole. "Follow me, everyone!"

As the scientist led the way into the portal, Allison followed him, leaving Tommy, Jason, Billy, Rocky and Kat to follow him, the portal closing as the other Rangers exchanged glances.

"Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi!" Alpha said, looking up at Zordon as the portal vanished. "First the Guardian and Dino Thunder Rangers show up, and now Doctor Beaumont and his granddaughter? We're going to need a bigger Command Center if this keeps up!"

"If it helps, once we've got everything together we'll be out of your hair and you won't have to worry about us any more," Harry said, looking over at Alpha before his expression became grimmer as he looked at Amanda, wishing that there was more they could do for her in particular…


End file.
